SCOTUS rules on Twitter case

Written By: Braden Harper 

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) The United States Supreme Court issued decisions in Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh on May 18.

Read this story on Mvskoke Media here.

Both of these cases had been previously covered by Mvskoke Media because decisions in these cases had the potential to impact our online news delivery.

An in-depth look at each case was also published in the March 15, 2023 edition of the Mvskoke News.

In an unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Clarence Thomas, the court ruled that Twitter did not “aid and abet” Islamic State terrorists by allowing them to use the service.

According to the opinion, “As alleged by plaintiffs, defendants designed virtual platforms and knowingly failed to do ‘enough’ to remove ISIS-affiliated users and ISIS related content—out of hundreds of millions of users worldwide and an immense ocean of content—from their platforms. Yet, plaintiffs have failed to allege that defendants intentionally provided any substantial aid to the Reina attack or otherwise consciously participated in the Reina attack—much less that defendants so pervasively and systemically assisted ISIS as to render them liable for every ISIS attack. Plaintiffs accordingly have failed to state a claim under §2333(d)(2). We therefore reverse the judgment of the Ninth Circuit.”

In a related case before the court, Gonzalez v. Google, SCOTUS ordered that case be remanded to the Ninth Circuit to be considered. This comes in light of the decision in Twitter v. Taamneh.