Appeals court: Twitter can’t be sued for “material support” of terrorism

An appeals court has ruled that Twitter is not liable for the deaths of two American military contractors who were killed in Jordan in 2015.

In a Wednesday decision, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court’s ruling in 2016 for dismissal of the case, Fields v. Twitter.

As Ars reported, the plaintiffs claimed that Twitter violated the Anti-Terrorism Act by providing Twitter accounts to the terrorist group. The plaintiffs, who represent the estate of the two deceased men, did not allege that any specific tweets instigated the terrorist to kill the US contractors, and they did not allege that ISIS recruited or trained the terrorist over Twitter. However, they did claim that Twitter provided “material support” for terrorism by allowing ISIS and its sympathizers on the social media network.

A three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the plaintiffs had not shown that Twitter was close enough to the violence that tragically ended the lives of their loved ones.

“We conclude that Twitter has the better of the argument and hold that to satisfy the ATA’s ‘by reason of’ requirement, a plaintiff must show at least some direct relationship between the injuries that he or she suffered and the defendant’s acts,” the judges wrote.

Joshua Arisohn, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Reuters that his clients were “extremely disappointed.”

Arisohn could ask the 9th Circuit to reconsider, file for an en banc hearing consisting of more judges, or appeal to the Supreme Court.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1253299