Family of Paris terrorist attack victim sues Twitter, Google and Facebook

The family of a Californian student killed in November's terrorist attacks in Paris has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against Facebook, Google, and Twitter, claiming the companies provided "material support" to the Islamic State and other extremist groups. All three companies say their policies clearly prohibit recruitment and terrorist content and claim that they strive to remove such content as quickly as possible.

Jessica Guynn

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — The family of a California college student killed in November's terrorist attacks in Paris is suing Facebook, Google and Twitter, alleging the companies provided "material support" to the Islamic State and other extremist groups.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, uses popular Internet services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube to spread propaganda, to attract and train new recruits, to celebrate terrorist attacks and publicize executions.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Francisco federal court is the latest to target social media services for making it too easy for the ISIL to spread its message. Cal State Long Beach student Nohemi Gonzalez was among 130 people killed in the Paris attacks.

Facebook said the lawsuit is without merit.

“There is no place for terrorists or content that promotes or supports terrorism on Facebook, and we work aggressively to remove such content as soon as we become aware of it," Facebook said in an emailed statement. "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 said it "strongly condemns the ongoing acts of violence for which ISIS claims credit."

"Our sympathies go out to those impacted by these acts of terror," the company said in an emailed statement. "We have partnered with others in industry, NGOs and governments to find better ways to combat the online manifestations of the larger societal problem at the core of violent extremism. As we stated earlier this year, violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear."

Google declined to comment on the litigation but said in an emailed statement that its video-sharing service YouTube takes "swift action against terrorist content."

"We have clear policies prohibiting terrorist recruitment and content intending to incite violence and quickly remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users. We also terminate accounts run by terrorist organizations or those that repeatedly violate our policies," the statement said.

Terrorism suspect uses Facebook Live to threaten attacks

In January, Twitter was sued by the widow of an American killed in an attack on a Jordanian police training center. Tamara Fields, a Florida woman whose husband Lloyd Carl Fields Jr., a government contractor, died in the Nov. 9 attack, accused Twitter of knowingly allowing the terror group to use its platform.

In February, Twitter said it had suspended 125,000 accounts connected to the Islamic State over the previous six months.

In what may be the first act of terrorism broadcast on Facebook Live, the suspected killer of a French police commander and his wife this week streamed a 13-minute video threatening attacks on European soccer competition Euro 2016 and contemplating the fate of the dead couple's child.