Family of U.S. Student Killed in Paris Attacks Sues Facebook, Twitter, Google
Facebook, Google and Twitter are all named as defendants in a suit filed by the family of a California college student killed in the deadly 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.
The family of Cal State Long Beach student Nohemi Gonzalez alleges each of the companies supplied "material support" to the Islamic State and other extremist groups leading to the attacks.
ISIS Uses Social Media to Spread Progaganda
Known as ISIS or ISIL, the Islamic State regularly uses the social media channels and Google's YouTube to spread propaganda, celebrate similar attacks and lure new recruits.
Filed in San Francisco federal court, the suit is the latest in a growing number of them insisting that social media platforms make it too easy for groups like ISIS to spread their divisive rhetoric.
The 23-year-old Gonzalez was among 130 people killed in coordinated attacks that spread across much of Paris.
Facebook Denies Claims in Statement
"Facebook execs quickly moved to dismiss the suit as without merit, adding in a statement "There is no place for terrorists or content that promotes or supports terrorism.
"There is no place for terrorists or content that promotes or supports terrorism on Facebook," execs added. "Anyone can report terrorist accounts or content to us, and our global team responds to these reports quickly around the clock. If we see evidence of a threat of imminent harm or a terror attack, we reach out to law enforcement."
Twitter and Google also disputed the validity of the suit, adding that their policies strongly condemn the promotion of violence and take swift action against such content.
The suit seeks damages to be determined at trial, though family attorney Keith Altman stressed the matter is not about money.
"Google shares the profits with ISIS and these extremist groups," he said. "By their terms of service, in order to you on YouTube (a Google subsidiary), you have to submit your articles for monetization to Google. Then they start putting ads on our pages and sharing revenue with you."
Earlier this year, Twitter insisted it suspended as many as 125,000 accounts over a six-month period based on connections to ISIL.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu scheduled an initial conference for September.
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