A federal judge has ruled that Twitter cannot be held responsible for the rise of ISIS activities on the popular social networking service, after a widow of an American who was killed in Jordan sued the company back in January for allegedly giving a voice to the said militants.
The case was filed by Tamara Fields, who suggested that the social media company violated federal anti-terrorism law by providing material support to ISIS, as well as gave them total freedom to maintain Twitter accounts, which Fields believes helps in spreading terrorist propaganda.
"Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," the lawsuit said.
Fast forward to today, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick decided against the plaintiff Fields, but gave her a chance to file a new amended lawsuit. While he deemed the deaths from the terrorist attacks as "horrific," he sided with Twitter, saying that federal laws protect Twitter from any liability regarding content written by third parties on the platform.
Furthermore, even during the time the case was filed, Twitter already considered that the lawsuit filed was "without merit," and stated that violent threats and promotion of terrorism deserve no place in the platform.
Neither a representative for Twitter nor a lawyer for Fields immediately gave a response regarding the outcome of the lawsuit.
Aside from Twitter, Facebook was also regarded by the Israeli government as a "monster" that aids the terrorists. As a course of action, the social network started to automatically remove extremist content posted on the website.
Source: NBC News | Image via Twitter