Facebook blamed for Palestinian attacks in $1 billion lawsuit filed by victims' families
Families that lost loved ones from attacks committed by terrorist group Hamas are charging the social network for playing "an essential role" in their ability to operate.
Facebook is the target of a $1 billion lawsuit filed Sunday that alleges the social media giant is making it easy for a terrorist group to use their services to coordinate Palestinian attacks.
Five families (four of which are Americans living in Israel and one of which live in South Carolina) are charging the company with providing "material support and resources" to the Hamas terrorist organization, which they say aided the extremist group to organize actions that led to the deaths and attempted murder of family members of the plaintiffs.
"Facebook has played an essential role in Hamas's ability to carry out its terrorist activities," the lawsuit claims. "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."
The lawsuit further delineates members of the Hamas organization that are claimed to have their own Facebook accounts used for carrying out the organization's activities, and its use in attacks made against victims of the plaintiffs' families. It also claims the network has the ability to block the organization, but refuses to do.
"The same algorithms that allow Facebook to make matches between people of similar interests could be used by Facebook to flag, review, and remove Hamas Facebook Pages," the lawsuit claims. "However, Facebook has refused to actively monitor its online social media network to block Hamas's use of Facebook."
Facebook has been taking a lot of heat over how its services are used in Israel, with the country's public security minister recently calling the network a "monster" during a television interview.
Facebook was not immediately available for comment.