Facebook Facing $1 Billion Lawsuit in Wake of Palestinian Attacks

JERUSALEM — Israeli and American families of victims of Palestinian attacks filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the social network is providing a platform for militants to spread incitement and violence, their lawyers said Monday.

Shurat Hadin, an Israeli legal advocacy group, filed the suit on behalf of the five families in New York federal court late Sunday, alleging that Facebook is violating the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act by providing a service to militant groups that assists them in "recruiting, radicalizing, and instructing terrorists, raising funds, creating fear and carrying out attacks."

The lawsuit (embedded below) focuses on the Islamic militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

The five families in the lawsuit lost relatives in attacks over the last two years. Four were dual Israeli-American citizens, while one victim was an American tourist.

"Facebook can't sit in its stone tower in Palo Alto while blood is being spilled here on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It has a social responsibility. It can't serve as a social network for Hamas," said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the Israeli lawyer who is representing the families.

She compared Facebook to a bank, saying just as money may be transferred as a service for terror groups, so can content.

There was no immediate comment from Facebook.

The suit comes amid a 10-month outburst of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has seen scores of Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli civilians and troops.

Israel says the violence is being fueled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement on social media, while the Palestinians see it as the result of frustrations over nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation and a lack of hope for their own state.

Since mid-September, 34 Israelis and two American tourists have been killed in Palestinian attacks. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed during the same period. Israel says most of the Palestinians who have died have been involved in attacks.

Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is the family of Taylor Force, a 28-year-old U.S. military veteran who was visiting Israel in March when he was stabbed to death by a Palestinian. Other plaintiffs include the family of Richard Lakin, an educator and coexistence advocate who was shot on a Jerusalem bus last October, and relatives of Naftali Fraenkel, an Israeli teenager who was kidnapped and killed while hitchhiking in the West Bank two years ago.

Lawsuits targeting online firms for the violent acts of their users are far from unprecedented.

Last month, the family of a Cal State Long Beach student killed in last November's Paris massacre filed suit against Google, Facebook and Twitter.

The action claims the companies provided "material support" to extremists in violation of U.S. law.

A similar case was brought against Twitter in January by the widow of a contractor killed in an attack on a police training center in Jordan.