Facebook sued in mega court case

From A7, 1 March 2017, by Orly Harary:


Nitzana Darshan-Leitner
Courtesy Shurat Hadin

NY federal court will hear Shurat Hadin's suits against Facebook for encouraging terrorism

A huge court case will open Wednesday in the Brooklyn District Court in New York.The Shurat Hadin organization, representing families of terror victims, has submitted two federal suits against social media giant Facebook.

The suits were filed in the name of American citizens who fell victim to Hamas terror attacks. The plaintiffs claim that by providing resources, social media services and support for Hamas on Facebook site, the company has violated American anti-terrorism laws.

The two suits, submitted by attorney Robert J. Tolchin and attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner who heads the Shurat Hadin organization, deal with the illegal supply of Facebook services to Hamas and the use made by the organization of social media as a means to promote its murderous goals.

The first suit was submitted by the family of US army officer and Vanderbilt graduate student Taylor Force, who was murdered in an attack in Yaffo in March 2016. The second one is a class action suit representing 20,000 Israelis who are demanding that Facebook block users who encourage terror activity.

In Wednesday's hearing the judge will hear the claims of the plaintiffs and the request by Facebook to dismiss both suits and will then decide whether the suits will be adjudicated in a legal procedure.

"The terrorists who stabbed and murdered and attacked innocent Israeli and American citizens all over the state of Israel depended on the wave of incitement which swept the social media sites led by Facebook. Facebook believes that it is allowed to make billions of dollars worth of profits every year without any obligation to demonstrate responsibility, supervise and remove content calling for the murder of Jews worldwide.
 
"The defendants invested huge sums in developing technologies which would enable them to know every detail about their users, yet they refuse to use the very same technologies to stop the incitement to violence against Jews. Facebook has become a weapon of Hamas in its efforts to encourage terror and therefore this must be stopped by using legal means," said Darshan-Leitner.