Families of three people killed in an Islamic extremist-inspired mass shooting in California are suing Facebook, Google and Twitter, claiming the internet giants permitted Islamic State to flourish on social media.
Fourteen people died and 22 were injured when Syed Rizwan Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire on a holiday gathering of Farook's co-workers at a government building in San Bernardino in December 2015.
Relatives of three of the victims say by allowing IS militants to spread propaganda freely on social media, the three companies provided "material support" to the group and enabled attacks.
"For years defendants have knowingly and recklessly provided the terrorist group ISIS with accounts to use its social networks as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits," family members of Sierra Clayborn, Tin Nguyen and Nicholas Thalasinos charge in a 32-page complaint filed in US District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
"Without defendants Twitter, Facebook and Google (YouTube), the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible."
Farook, 28, a US-born son of Pakistani immigrants and Malik, 29, a Pakistani native, died in a shootout with police four hours after the massacre.
Authorities have said the couple was inspired by Islamist militants.
At the time, the assault ranked as the deadliest attack by Islamist extremists on US soil since September 11, 2001.
Federal law gives internet companies broad immunity from liability for content posted by their users.
Several lawsuits have been filed in recent years seeking to hold social media companies responsible for terror attacks but none has advanced beyond the preliminary phases.
Spokeswomen for Twitter and Google declined to comment on the lawsuit and Facebook representatives could not be reached.
