Facebook is often blamed for the content it hosts on its platforms, but it can be difficult to hold the company legally accountable. However, this week, family members of a 2022 mass shooting in a Buffalo supermarket are suing Facebook and other tech giants for allegedly helping to radicalize the shooter.

The suit names several major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Discord, and more. The lawsuit claims that the shooter admitted he was addicted to social media and that he was “lured, unsuspectingly, into a psychological vortex by defective social media applications and fed a steady stream of racist and white supremacist propaganda and falsehoods.”

“They were the conspirators, even if they don’t want to admit it,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said of the tech companies. “There were many people who helped him load that gun. And it is our objective to make sure that everybody that loaded that gun is held to account.”
It’s ultimately unlikely that Facebook will be held accountable for this tragedy because of the broad protections it is afforded under the law. Still, cases like this are a valuable way to shine a light on the role social media can play in hosting dangerous content.

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