BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — On Friday, the New York State Appellate Court issued rulings in civil cases linked to the Buffalo mass shooting.
A panel of judges made the following decisions:
1. Social media companies cannot be held liable for radicalizing the shooter
2. Legal action against a gun accessory manufacturer, Mean LLC, may advance
New York State Appellate Court concluded that social media companies cannot be held liable for radicalizing the Tops mass shooter, Payton Gendron. The court's decision, voted 3-2, overturned a previous ruling by the State Supreme Court.
Judges said the companies are protected under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides immunity to online platforms from liability for content posted by their users.
This ruling comes about one year after Kristen Elmore-Garcia filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against prominent platforms, including YouTube, Reddit and Discord. You can read more here or watch below.
“It is frustrating, but it’s not the end of the fight,” Elmore-Garcia said. “Because the two judges did write a dissenting opinion, that does open the door to us to appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals, which is our highest court in the state, in Albany. There are multiple different plaintiff groups cooperating on these cases and seeing if an appeal is the best thing to do. If there is a path forward, we absolutely will take it and keep fighting, because this is ultimately about the safety of our country.”
Elmore-Garcia's case also targets firearm accessory manufacturer Mean LLC. She tells me the company deliberately marketed products as ways to get around New York State's assault rifle ban, also giving instructions on how to remove safety devices.
The state appellate court ruled in favor of that argument, allowing Elmore-Garcia's case to continue.
“We will be continuing the path of discovery,” Elmore-Garcia said. “Discovery is the exchanging of evidence and information. Hopefully, we will be scheduling important depositions of key people and examining corporate records that will help us continue to prove our case against Mean LLC.”
WATCH: 'It is frustrating': Social media firms cannot be held liable for radicalizing 5/14 gunman
Gendron pleaded guilty to all state charges in November 2022 and is serving life in prison without parole.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
