Twitter Tells Widow It Isn’t Liable For Terrorist Communication

A widow has filed a suit alleging that Twitter is liable for creating the platform that allowed terrorists to plot an attack that killed her husband last year in Jordan, where he was working as a contractor. The suit, filed in a San Francisco federal court, claims Twitter violated the Anti-Terrorism Act because it “purposefully, knowingly, or with willful blindness provided material support” to acts of terrorism. “Twitter has knowingly permitted the terrorist group ISIS to use its social network as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds, and attracting new recruits,” the lawsuit states. “This material has been instrumental in the rise of ISIS.” Twitter defended itself, saying the Communications Decency Act establishes that it has no liability for what third-party users say on its site. “Congress broadly immunized entities like Twitter against lawsuits that seek to hold them liable for harmful or unlawful third-party content, including suits alleging that such entities failed to block, remove, or alter such content.”