Survivors of Pulse club shooting sue social media giants

Author: Associated Press
Published:
FILE – In this Nov. 30, 2016 file photo, artwork and signatures cover a fence around the Pulse nightclub, scene of a mass shooting, in Orlando, Fla. Jurors in the federal trial of Noor Salman, the Pulse nightclub gunman’s widow, have gotten a look inside his Florida condo through crime scene photos taken as FBI agents searched the home. They also saw some of her husband Omar Mateen’s web browsing history Tuesday, March 20, 2018, including beheading videos created by the Islamic State group Mateen had pledged allegiance to. Salman is accused of aiding and abetting her husband in the 2016 attack that left 49 people dead. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Survivors of a Florida nightclub massacre have filed a federal lawsuit against Google, Facebook and Twitter, claiming they helped spread terrorist propaganda.

The complaint filed Wednesday in Orlando by 16 survivors of the June 2016 Pulse nightclub attack says the companies profited from content posted by the Islamic State group.

Gunman Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to the organization in telephone conversations with a 911 operator and police during the rampage that killed 49 at the gay nightclub. Mateen was killed in a shootout with SWAT team members.

A similar lawsuit filed by the victims’ families against the three social media giants was dismissed by a Detroit federal judge last week. The judge found no connection between social media content and the attack. Another lawsuit against Twitter was dismissed in 2016.

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