Family of slain CSULB student Nohemi Gonzalez sues Twitter, Facebook, Google

The family of Cal State Long Beach student Nohemi Gonzalez, killed in the Paris terror attacks, is suing Google, Facebook and Twitter, alleging the social media giants have aided ISIS and other groups by allowing them to use their chaels to recruit members and coordinate attacks.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Northe Califoia, alleges the three companies “use their social networks as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits.”

The lawyer representing the family, Michigan-based Keith Altman of Excolo Law, said this case is not about free speech, but about creating communication conduits that allow ISIS and other terror groups to plan, coordinate and execute terror attacks.

He said the companies are aiding and in some cases funding terrorist organizations, which contributed to the death of Gonzalez, 23, of El Monte, on Nov. 13 while she was studying abroad during an exchange program.

“There’s no freedom of speech when it comes to terrorism,” Altman said in an interview. “We’re not talking about posting viewpoints. We’re talking about recruiting.”

Representatives from Twitter could not immediately be reached for comment. Google, based in Mountain View, and Facebook, based in Menlo Park, released statements saying there is no place for terrorism on their sites, and that the companies have explicit polices that prohibit terrorist recruitment, as well as comment from terror groups or supporters. This type of content, the companies said, is removed when it is flagged by users or by teams employed to investigate such content.

Google, which owns YouTube, “has a strong track record of taking swift action against terrorist content,” the company said.

Facebook said terrorists or groups that support terrorism have no place on its site. “If we see evidence of a threat of imminent harm or a terror attack, we reach out to law enforcement,” the company said, adding that “this lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”

A similar lawsuit was filed in January against San Francisco-based Twitter, alleging the popular micro-blog site led to the death of Lloyd Carl Fields Jr., of Florida, in a Nov. 9 attack in Jordan.

In response to that lawsuit, a Twitter spokesman called the lawsuit “meritless,” but expressed sympathy for the Fields family. Twitter also denied claims that it has not responded to conces about terrorists using the social network.

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“We have teams around the world actively investigating reports of rule violations, identifying violating conduct, partnering with organizations countering extremist content online and working with law enforcement entities when appropriate,” Twitter said in a statement.

Though unprecedented, Altman said the case is “going to send a very big statement. ... Hopefully we can bring about some change.”

Gonzalez was the only American killed in the Paris attacks. In all, 129 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris and the nearby suberb of Saint-Denis. The terrorist group known as ISIL claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The lawsuit cites an extensive report from the Brookings Institution showing the extent to which ISIS uses Twitter to send its propaganda out to the world and to draw in people who may be vulnerable to radicalization. The report estimated that 46,000 Twitter accounts were used by ISIS supporters through December 2014.

“ISIS has been able to exert an outsized impact on how the world perceives it, by disseminating images of graphic violence (including the beheading of Weste jour-

nalists and aid workers and more recently, the immolation of a Jordanian air force pilot), while using social media to attract new recruits and inspire lone actor attacks,” according to the 2015 Brookings report.

Altman said he expected additional lawsuits to arise following the Orlando, Florida, attack on June 12 that killed 50 people, including the shooter Omar Mateen. Officials said Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to ISIS during the attack, but did not appear to have direct contact with the group.

More to come.