“However, Facebook has refused to actively monitor its online social media network to block Hamas’s use of Facebook”. “For years, Hamas, its leaders, spokesmen, and members have openly maintained and used official Facebook accounts with little or no interference”, the plaintiffs stated.
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The other plaintiffs are the relatives of dual Israel and US citizens, including the parents of Naftali Fraenkel, 16, who was kidnapped from a West Bank bus stop and murdered along with two other Israeli teens in June 2014; the parents of Chaya Zissel Braun, 3 months, who was killed in a car-ramming attack in Jerusalem in October 2014; the son of Richard Lakin, 76, killed in a stabbing attack on a bus in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem; and Menachem Mendel Rivkin, who was seriously wounded in a January stabbing attack in Jerusalem.
The lawsuit was filed on July 10th in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Facebook is accused of being a medium for Hamas.
Hamas didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments on the lawsuit.
Five families of Americans and Israelis murdered and wounded by Islamic terror in Israel have joined forces to file a billion-dollar lawsuit against Facebook, citing the social media giant has failed to prohibit the widespread postings supporting and glorifying terrorism. However, Facebook will rely on the Communications Decency Act to fight the lawsuit.
Mushir al-Masri, a senior Hamas leader, said by phone that “suing Facebook clearly shows the American policy of fighting freedom of the press and expression” and is evidence of United States of America prejudice against the group and “its just cause”.
The lead plaintiffs have been identified as Stuart and Robbi Force, the parents of Taylor Force, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University and a U.S. Army veteran who was killed in March in a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv.
Hamas has thus far accepted responsibility for only one of the attacks, but the plaintiffs’ lawyer claims to have expert assessments linking the Palestinian organization to the other killings. “It is not merely about content, it is about the sophisticated technological means that Facebook provides to Hamas to make its terroristic goals a reality”.
Facebook did not directly comment on the case filed this week, but in a statement provided to Bloomberg, it said it wants “people to feel safe when using Facebook”.
Terrorism groups, most notably, ISIL use popular Internet services such as Facebook and Twitter to spread propaganda, to attract and train new recruits, to plan attacks and publicize executions.
Twitter was sued by the widow of an American killed in an attack on a Jordanian police training center in January.
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Technology companies condemned the terrorist attacks and say they work aggressively to remove extremist content from their services.
