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Twitter, Facebook and Google Sued For Facilitating Paris Attacks (thenextweb.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Reynaldo Gonzalez is suing Twitter, Facebook and Google for facilitating the spread of "extremist propaganda" after alleging the three companies "knowingly permitted" ISIS to recruit, raise money and spread its message across each of the respective platforms. His daughter, Nohemi, was among the 130 killed when religious extremists attacked Paris last year. In the court documents, Gonzalez goes on to say that religious extremists would not have the infrastructure to get their message to the masses without the three companies and their social networks. While each company does have moderators that review content, The Next Web notes that it's a statistical impossibility to maintain that any company of such a size can review, or even find, all instances of offensive content. Google is also being faced with a lawsuit from the Space Data Corporation of Chandler, Arizona, which claims the tech giant stole the idea behind its Wi-Fi-emitting balloon network, Project Loon.

4 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Re:absurd lawsuit and abandoning principles by Megol · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You _are_ free to speak limited only by the laws of your country. But what you are talking about is forcing private entities to allow your speech to be broadcast - which is bullshit.

  2. Sue paper mills? by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about copy machine manufactures since they there is still paper propaganda?
    How about sue video camera manufacturers?
    How about Adobe for building Premier?

    How far does "facilitating" go?

    The reason that only "social media" is being sued is because "social media" is currently the in thing.

  3. And the phone company! by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't forget them. How about the city? They provided the roads used by the terrorists!

  4. Boeing? Toyota? Hanes? by somenickname · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Blaming a small handful of online (and rich) entities for any kind of terror attack is absurd. In general, no single company facilitates a terrorist attack. As far as I'm aware, no one sued Boeing for 9/11. As far as I'm aware, no one has sued Toyota for the rise of ISIS. Taking it a step further, no one has sued clothing manufacturers for allowing terrorists to blend in with the rest of society. No one has sued the doctors that might have treated terrorists. No one has sued local construction companies for building the roads/subways that the terrorists have used. And on and on and on.

    I think it's deplorable that people are trying to make a quick buck in the courts on the backs of innocent victims.