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Twitter Can't Be Blamed For 2015 ISIS-Linked Killings, Court Rules (sfgate.com)
A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled yesterday that Twitter is not legally responsible for the deaths of two Americans in an ISIS-linked attack in Jordan, even though the Islamic State may have used its access to Twitter to spread its message of terrorism and recruit new members. The decision upholds a 2016 ruling on the same case, which was filed by the families of the victims of the terrorist attack. SFGate reports: "Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," the suit said. The Americans, Lloyd Fields Jr. and James Creach, were former police officers working for U.S. companies training law enforcement officers in Jordan. They were among five people shot to death in November 2015 by a Jordanian police captain, later identified as a member of an Islamic State terror cell. Islamic State said it was responsible for killing the "American crusaders."
As an example of the Twitter activity, the women's lawyers showed a snapshot of an undated tweet, allegedly from Islamic State, that declared "there is no life without jihad." As of December 2014, the suit said, the terror group had 70,000 Twitter accounts, of which 79 were "official" Islamic State accounts. Only recently, the lawyers said, had Twitter changed its rules to prohibit threats of violence or terrorism and ordered the suspension of accounts promoting terrorism. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the suit failed to show a direct connection between Islamic State's use of Twitter and the fatal attack. "At most, the (suit) establishes that Twitter's alleged provision of material support to ISIS facilitated the organization's growth and ability to plan and execute terrorist acts," Judge Milan Smith said in the 3-0 ruling, which upheld a federal judge's dismissal of the suit earlier.
As an example of the Twitter activity, the women's lawyers showed a snapshot of an undated tweet, allegedly from Islamic State, that declared "there is no life without jihad." As of December 2014, the suit said, the terror group had 70,000 Twitter accounts, of which 79 were "official" Islamic State accounts. Only recently, the lawyers said, had Twitter changed its rules to prohibit threats of violence or terrorism and ordered the suspension of accounts promoting terrorism. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the suit failed to show a direct connection between Islamic State's use of Twitter and the fatal attack. "At most, the (suit) establishes that Twitter's alleged provision of material support to ISIS facilitated the organization's growth and ability to plan and execute terrorist acts," Judge Milan Smith said in the 3-0 ruling, which upheld a federal judge's dismissal of the suit earlier.
in a us court! not in others
For delivering letters laced with anthrax. You can't have the messenger also be your body guard or poison tester.
I don't read AC
... promoting sexual harassment.
Donald Trump On Tape: I Grab Women "By The Pussy”
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Like any useful tool, some people will choose to (ab)use it for destructive ends.
Don't blame the tool maker.
And the Russians can't be blamed for the dumbasses who voted for Trump and Clinton either. If you pull the trigger, you can't blame anybody else. So drop it, would ya?! Idiots
If Twitter was run as a free speech platform, where users were responsible for their own Tweets and where Tweets were only censored with a court order, then Twitter would have no responsibility. However, Twitter is run as a 'safe' platform and actively removes speech it finds 'offensive' or 'hateful'. By failing to remove these ISIS Tweets, Twitter was effectively endorsing them and should therefore be held responsible for their content.
The postal services and phone services are not held responsible for the content of letters or phone calls because they do not censor any letters or calls, and do not try to determine what is right and wrong. Twitter does, and therefore is responsible for any content on its platform.
I would like to know how the lawyers presented their case. I assume they did a very bad job to have lost so badly, because Twitter are without doubt guilty.
"Only recently, the lawyers said, had Twitter changed its rules to prohibit threats of violence or terrorism and ordered the suspension of accounts promoting terrorism."
Only recently
The choices *should* be either A) uncensored free speech, and each individual is responsible for their messages *OR* B) a "safe" speech area where no one hears anything objectionable or is responsible for anything. Trying to have it both ways should get ,at the very least, your business license yanked. And be set on fire. For the good of the gene pool.
The distinction between this case and your Post Office example is common carrier status. The USPS is a common carrier, so they weren't liable for delivering letters with anthrax. But if they had had a policy of opening letters and packages, and refusing to deliver certain types of mail based on their own standards, then they could be liable for failing to stop the letters with anthrax.
A more apt Post Office analogy would be if the USPS regularly opened and read people's mail and refused certain shipments, but they did not stop delivery of a newsletter encouraging poisoning people with anthrax. And someone had been killed by an anthrax attack not delivered via the USPS.
Twitter has shown that they are very good at removing content they don't approve of. This should be no different and reasonably burdensome.
Call the scum Daesh. Stop giving them credit for something theyâ(TM)re, or associating them with millions of normal Muslims around the world.
Call the scum Daesh. Stop giving them credit for something theyâ(TM)re not (a state), or associating them with millions of normal Muslims around the world.
Blaming religion? Oh wait, of course not. Religion is infallible.
I found one part of the summary quite scary: 'The Americans, Lloyd Fields Jr. and James Creach, were former police officers working for U.S. companies training law enforcement officers in Jordan.'
Considering how Yanks 'train' their cops, Daesh probably did Jordan quite the favour here.
Do humans have free will? Or are we compelled to believe everything we read on twitter, and act accordingly?
False dichotomy, it's neither.
Sniffs like Greece is one of the places that primarily Muslim refugees land. Kinda like southern tiers of states in the USA.
I'm sure some of us can be willingly virtue signaling until they wake up and there's a family camped out back on their property.
Given the self inflicted economic wounds that Greek politicians have inflicted on their citizens , I'd imagine it'd be easy to scapegoat 'yall aren't from around here, are yew?' folks.
Yes, we are compelled to believe everything we're told. There actually is a lot of evidence for that. It's pretty much the entire reason any religion has ever lasted longer than a single lifetime.
And no, we don't have free will. Twitter might not be much of an expert on this subject but I'm sure any employee at Facebook or Google could explain it, and maybe even prove it.
"Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible,"
This may be true, but not in the way the plaintiffs meant. After all, Twitter has been widely used by media figures to ramp up fears that we're all inevitably going to be murdered in our beds by ISIS.
I used to be a pedophile but I got a pedicure.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
General Motors can't be held liable for the drunk driver that kills someone. Sony isn't responsible for the TV show that made someone flip out and kill their neightbors. Twitter isn't responsible for what someone types into it.
Grow up, America. It's not always someone else's responsibility to babysit your entitlement feelings.
"Sit down, shut up and stop ruining my life!"