Loved ones sue social media companies over Buffalo massacre
May 12, 2023, 1:03 AM
4:35
Law enforcement officials are seen at the scene of a mass shooting at Tops Friendly Market, May 15, 2022 in Buffalo, NY.
Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Loved ones of those killed in the 2022 Buffalo grocery store mass shooting filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday against a number of social media companies alleging they facilitated the teenage killer's white supremacist radicalization by allowing racist propaganda to fester on their platforms.
The lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Buffalo also names as defendants a gun dealer and body armor company, as well as the parents of the confessed killer, Payton Gendron.
"Gendron was motivated to commit his heinous crime by racist, anti-Semitic, and white supremacist propaganda fed to him by the social media companies whose products he used," the lawsuit argues, adding that Gendron was not raised by a racist family, did not live in a radically polarized community and had no personal history of negative interactions with Black people.
The legal action comes just two days before Buffalo residents commemorate the one-year mark since the May 14, 2022, shooting rampage at a Tops store on the city's predominantly Black east side.
The lawsuit was filed by Buffalo attorney John Elmore on behalf of the loved ones of Heyward Patterson, Katherine "Kat" Massey and Andre Mackniel, three of the 10 Black people killed in the mass shooting. The suit is supported by the Social Media Victims Law Center, an organization that works to hold social media companies legally accountable for the alleged harm it is claimed they inflict on vulnerable users.
Barbara Massey Mapps stands on the porch of her sister Katherine "Kat" Massey's home in Buffalo, New York. Her sister was among 10 Black people killed in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, 2022.
Malik Rainey for ABC News
"I'm hoping that something will come out of it. Everyday or every few days, all you hear about is a mass shooting," Massey's sister, Barbara Massey Mapps, told ABC News of the lawsuit. "You've got to start somewhere, in order for them to get the message. These big companies only know one thing, money. So, you've got to hurt them. How many people do you want to see dead?"
Biggest names in tech sued
Among the defendants named in the lawsuit are Meta, the parent company of Facebook; the instant messaging app Snapchat; Discord, Reddit; Google, which owns YouTube; and Amazon, which owns Twitch, the site Gendron used to livestream the killing rampage.
The dark website 4chan is also named as a defendant, as well as the Vintage Firearms company and the RMA Armament company.
The lawsuit alleges the social media platforms aided in rapidly spreading Gendron's hate via copies of his livestream of the shooting across multiple platforms where it became known as the "murder video" and viewed by more than 3 million people.
Gendron used Amazon's Twitch to livestream the first two minutes of the rampage before it was taken down by the operators of the popular gaming platform, the lawsuit states.
Law enforcement officials are seen at the scene of a mass shooting at Tops Friendly Market at Jefferson Avenue and Riley Street, May 15, 2022 in Buffalo, New York.
Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Despite it being taken down, the video was downloaded to 4chan, according to the suit.
"Within 30 minutes of when the link was first posted to 4chan, another 4chan user had downloaded it, uploaded it to a video sharing platform, and posted a link to that other video sharing platform on 4chan," the lawsuit alleges.
Copies of the horrific video "appeared on Facebook next to advertisements," the lawsuit contends.
"While Facebook eventually turned off banner advertising for searches related to the Buffalo shooting, the murder video continued to circulate on Facebook and, on information and belief, Facebook's algorithms continued to recommend it," the suit alleges.
Discord was named as a defendant because it was where Gendron "chronicled the progress of his plan" for months and where a half-hour before the attack he announced it to several Discord users he invited into a chat room, according to lawsuit.
The suit alleges Gendron became "addicted" in his early teens to Meta's Instagram, Google's YouTube and Snapchat, which is owned by a company called Snap Inc.
"Because of the dangerously defective and unreasonably dangerous algorithms powering Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, Gendron quickly became a problematic user of the Social Media Defendants' products. He accessed his social media accounts multiple times per hour and at all hours of the night," according to the lawsuit.
Payton Gendron (C) is escorted back into the courtroom by deputies after a disruption during sentencing, Feb. 15, 2023, in Buffalo, N.Y.
Derek Gee/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
The plaintiffs accuse YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram of directing "Gendron to progressively more extreme and psychologically discordant content."
"Taking full advantage of the incomplete development of Gendron's frontal lobe, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat maintained his product engagement by directing him to increasingly extreme and violent content which, upon information and belief, promoted racism, anti-Semitism, and gun violence," the lawsuit contends.
The lawsuit goes on to allege, "Because the Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat algorithms were designed with the singular goal of maximizing Gendron's product engagement over his psychological, emotional, and ethical well-being, by directing him to sites promoting hate and violence these products were functioning as designed and intended."
Firearms and body armor dealers
Vintage Firearms, a gun dealer in Endicott, New York, was named as a defendant because it sold Gendron the Bushmaster XM15-E2S he used in the attack.
"As part of his 'investigation' of the Bushmaster XM15-E2S at Vintage Firearms, Gendron writes that he 'learned' how to modify the weapon so that it would take high-capacity ammunition magazines, the lawsuit alleges.
MORE: New York AG sues gun company over device used by Buffalo mass shooter
"After purchasing his murder weapon at Vintage Firearms, Gendron continued to loyally patronize the store, and find camaraderie there," the suit alleges.
The lawsuit alleges RMA Armament, where the killer purchased his body armor, "knew or should have known permitting Payton Gendron to obtain their product would result in unreasonable danger due to the use of their product."
Gendron, now 19, pleaded guilty to committing the murders and was sentenced in February to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He also became the first person in New York state to face a charge of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, for which he also pleaded guilty.
During his sentencing hearing in February, Gendron, from predominantly white Conklin, New York, a three-hour drive from Buffalo, claimed he was brainwashed by online racist propaganda, saying, "I believed what I r
Friday, May 12, 2023 at 5:04 am