The Victims Of Violence During The Kenosha Protests Are Suing Facebook And Kyle Rittenhouse

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: BuzzFeed News

The Victims Of Violence During The Kenosha Protests Are Suing Facebook And Kyle Rittenhouse

Citing a law that dates from Reconstruction, four people, including the partner of a man killed during the protests, are taking the company to court.

Craig Silverman
BuzzFeed News Reporter

Ryan Mac
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on September 23, 2020, at 10:01 a.m. ET

Four people are suing Facebook for its alleged role in enabling the violence that overtook the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August.

The five-count civil complaint filed late Tuesday in a Wisconsin federal court argues that Facebook "empowered right wing militias to inflict extreme violence and deprive Plaintiffs and protestors of their rights" by providing a platform for the groups to recruit members and plan violence. It also accuses alleged shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, a follower of the fringe anti-government group "boogaloo," and the "commander" of the self-described militia group Kenosha Guard of being part of a violent conspiracy to violate the constitutional rights of four Black Lives Matter protesters, including the partner of a man killed during the protests.

{snip}

This lawsuit, McNeal v. Facebook, Inc., follows a similar complaint filed in the wake of the deadly "Unite the Right" rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Both lawsuits cite Reconstruction-era laws in attempts to hold white supremacists accountable for violent suppression of constitutional rights. The Kenosha suit also attempts to pierce the broad protections afforded to platforms like Facebook for user-generated content under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Lin Wood, an attorney for Rittenhouse, called the suit "nonsense." ... "As to Kyle Rittenhouse, this lawsuit is errant [sic] nonsense but may provide a golden opportunity for obtaining documents and sworn testimony from Facebook to bolster Kyle’s future defamation case against Facebook for falsely accusing him of mass murder," Wood told BuzzFeed News, referring to Facebook's decision to designate the incident a mass shooting and remove Rittenhouse's account and any content celebrating his actions. "Thus, I view the lawsuit as a blessing in disguise.”

{snip}

Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/kenosha-facebook-lawsuit

---

Hat tip, Popehat

CoronaInItalyHat Retweeted

https://twitter.com/Popehat

Seeing lots of folks cheering on this lawsuit, because "Facebook," but it'll get tossed on 230 grounds easily, as it should.

But don't miss the wacky Lin Wood response in there. Still amazed that he was ever considered a good lawyer.

Link to tweet

[CaptYossarian]

1. Doesn't hate-speech radio and Fox get a dishonorable mention?

Also throw in the Great Pumpkin and Bill Barr as co-defendants as well.

Just pull as many fingerprints as possible off the "gas can" that ignited the violence in all the cities where this has occurred.

[certainot]

3. yes. limbaugh said "blm protestors in portland "executed a trump supporter" and "cheered and

danced" about it.

if he had said that first would it have been inciting murder?

limbaugh regularly frothed about BLM as a marxist communist un-american terrorist org and regularly incites violence with 'subtlety'

the amazing thing is how 1000s of advertisers and a couple hundred university and pro sports teams can keep supporting hundreds of radio stations like that without a prominent progressive org or famous activist mentioning it

few of them would actually say they support the racism and trump love from those stations, but they are never asked...

[CaptYossarian]

7. As far as the advertisers are concerned, it's all about the eyes and ears.

The bigger the audience, the more people will know McDonald's exists.

That's my example because I've seen many times where an Amish family will leave a local grocery store, carrying cases of Pepsi to their buggy. After all the groceries are loaded, they will turn and walk the hundred yards to McDonald's and scarf until it's time to return to the farm.

All those advertising dollars wasted because even the Amish know about these companies.

Meanwhile, the Nazi stations and Rush keep getting richer and richer. They're encouraged to double down on their nonsense, even if Rush is vomiting his words against Michael J. Fox or Koko the gorilla (I heard that one when I had a car that only got one station).

The college stations are bewildering to me. I graduated from a school in a very blue community. There were a handful of Greg Marmalards and Niedermeyers on campus, but the student body was overwhelmingly liberal.

I totally get the sports stations though. A lot of non-athletic knuckle-draggers who are insecure about their manliness are addicted to sports as they relive their glory days of knocking down bottles at fairs or defeating that nasty windmill at their favorite golf course.

[certainot]

10. i think it's more about the monopoly they have protected. those limbaugh stations are some of the

loudest in every state and they were chosen 30 years ago because of that and it helped those were the stations that the unis and pro teams were already broadcasting on.

it's all free for the republican party and making trillion for them in deregulation, supremes, global warming, war, etc and as long as the stations are paying rent and salaries it doesn't matter if some other programming might be more profitable.

most of the advertisers and teams would desert those stations if they were confronted with what they are supporting. the ad industry wants those ears and those stations and would force the break up or at least the reduction of that monopoly - but democrats and progressive groups continue to ignore it - the biggest political mistake in history.

[CaptYossarian]

11. All we can do is boycott and send letters to the right people explaining why.

Keith Olbermann once worked for Murdoch. He said that if Rupert could make a buck pushing left-leaning views, he'd go that way.

It's about the dollar--not the ideology.

[certainot]

12. i disagree. there are blue areas with multiple overlapping rw stations and no liberal despite

the liberals beating the main talkers on a level field.

many of those stations are the only loud sources around in those 40 states with 80 senators for news, weather, traffic etc and they are just loud - they could be telling the truth and probably have more listeners

the idea that 95% of americans would prefer the ignorance, lies, and racism is pretty anti-american! they just got the loudest stations and 600 feature limbaugh who only pretty much takes paid callers (prob from russia too) so his kow towing dittoheads have to call the other local blowhards, ensuring they are all on the same page.

it's wall mart vs mom and pop but especially with AI making it so easy and cheap to digitize talk radio now a stoprush x100 is possible. that and the fact limbaugh is uncertain with stage 4 cancer and no one can really replace him on all those stations and get the same money... it wouldn't take much for the ad industry to take evasive action

and all it would take is someone like al sharpton to point out how 260 of those racist limbaugh stations depend on the black athletes from 87 universities and a lot of pro teams

[oldsoftie]

2. Well, I doubt that'll go far.

[Aristus]

4. They can't touch Facebook.

Too much money.

But they might be able to bleed it into basement incel-boy's family.

Regardless, I want the pissy little pudknocker to spend the rest of his worthless life in prison.

[Initech]

6. Same!

Maybe the victims could also sue anyone who's actively trying to justify these savage acts of murder - like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh for instance!

[Barbara2423]

5. Glad to see they are doing something.

Lin Wood is an attorney for Nick Sandman, the Kentucky teenager got a settlement from CNN. Most people did not think there was a chance. So, whose to say this would not work.

[IcyPeas]

8. ...young soldier Rittenhouse

is how I heard him referred to on right wing radio.

[AZ8theist]

9. I hope that little fucking worm gets life...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. More on the same

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/partner-of-kenosha-shooting-victim-sues-facebook-shooter-militias/ar-BB19lwms?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=DELLDHP