It’ll be very hard for terrorism victim’s family to win lawsuit against Twitter

(credit: Gonzalez v. Twitter)

OAKLAND, Calif.—Legal experts say that it will be an uphill battle for the plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit this week against Twitter, Facebook and Google. That suit, filed here on behalf of the family of a terrorism victim, argues that the companies should not be a vehicle for terrorist propaganda and that the companies should be held liable for the consequences of publication of such material.

On Tuesday, the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a woman killed in terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, sued the three tech giants in federal court for unspecified damages. In a 39-page civil complaint, the family’s attorneys argue that the defendants provide "material support to ISIS"—as the companies make money off of ads that run against this propaganda, and therefore are in violation of a civil provision of an anti-terrorism law.

However, according to several lawyers and law professors that Ars spoke with, the trio of companies in Gonzalez v. Twitter will likely argue that they are not liable under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. (The companies have not yet formally responded to the case in court.)

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