Facebook defeats appeal in US claiming it aided Hamas attacks
on Wednesday defeated an appeal by American victims of Hamas attacks in
Israel, who sought to hold the company liable for providing the group a social
media platform to further its goals.
The
2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the Communications Decency
Act, a 1996 law regulating internet content, shielded Facebook from liability.
It also declined to exercise jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’ foreign law
claims.
Lawyers
for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Facebook and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The
plaintiffs also included relatives and the estates of Hamas victims.
Wednesday’s
decision upheld a May 2017 ruling by US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in
Brooklyn.
It
is a fresh setback to efforts to hold companies such as Facebook and Twitter liable
for failing to better police users’ online speech.
The
US Department of State has designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization
since 1997.
The
case is Force et al v Facebook Inc et al, 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, No.
18-397.