Twitter provides material support to ISIS, lawsuit alleges

(credit: Court record)

A US woman whose husband was slain in Jordan while serving as a private contractor is suing Twitter, alleging that the micro-blogging company is a "tool for spreading extremist propaganda" that led to her husband's death at the hands of a terrorist last year.

Contractor Lloyd "Carl" Fields was shot and killed by a terrorist in Jordan last year.

The federal suit (PDF) was filed Wednesday against San Francisco-based Twitter. It claims the service is in breach of the Anti-Terrorism Act, that Twitter "purposefully, knowingly or with willful blindness" provided "material support to the preparation and carrying out of acts of international terrorism, including the attack in which Lloyd Fields Jr., was killed."

The suit claims that for years, "Twitter has knowingly permitted the terrorist group ISIS to use its social network as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds, and attracting new recruits. This material support has been instrumental to the rise of ISIS." The suit continues: "ISIS members use Twitter to post instructional guidelines and promotional videos, referred to as “mujatweets.”

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