Facebook aided the Hamas terrorist group in attacks that killed four American citizens in Israel, according to a $1 billion lawsuit filed by the victims’ relatives in New York federal court Sunday.
(Law360)- The families say Facebook Inc. is violating the U.S. Anti-Terrorist Act when it allegedly allows Hamas groups to organize terrorist attacks and glorify acts of violence, including the ones that killed their relatives, on the social media site.
“Facebook has knowingly provided material support and resources to Hamas in the form of Facebook’s online social network platform and communication services,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit accuses the tech giant of negligence, vicarious liability and breach of statutory duty under Israeli law and says Facebook “provided material support and resources” to the militant Hamas group. The families are seeking punitive damages in amounts that will be determined at trial, “but for no less than $1 billion,” the complaint says.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the killing of Taylor Force, Yaakov Naftali Fraenkel, Chaya Zissel Braun and Richard Lakin, who are named in the lawsuit.
Lakin, 76, was killed by terrorists, who opened fire on a bus. Fraenkel, 16, was shot “point blank” after being abducted from a bus stop. Braun was 3 months old when she was fatally knocked out of her baby carriage by a terrorist who ran his car into a crowd. She landed on her head on the pavement while her mother “screamed in horror,” the complaint says.
Hamas uses Facebook as a gateway to other extremist sites by posting links to the radical material on Facebook group pages and discussion forums, the suit claims. Hamas also uses Facebook pages to advertise upcoming demonstrations, road closures, Israeli military actions and instructions, the families say. The social media site allows the militant group to circumvent conventional media outlets by live-streaming radio and television on Facebook or posting links to other Hamas online sites, the complaint says.
The company knows about the pages, but doesn’t do anything about it, the complaint says. Facebook allegedly refused in 2014 to remove the page “Death to Zionist Baby Killer Israeli Jews,” claiming it didn’t violate the company’s community standards, which govern how Facebook responds to complaints about abuse of the site.