Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Legal action is being taken against social media companies and other entities for their influence on the gunman that carried out the May 14 mass shooting at the Tops Friendly Market one year ago on Sunday.
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It was announced Friday by Attorney John Elmore and his legal team they've filed a 145-page wrongful death lawsuit with the State of New York Supreme Court, County of Erie, alleging that social media companies provided platforms that fed Payton Gendron violent racist content while maximizing their advertising revenue. The radicalized posts with which he engaged also provided access to the training, equipment, and expertise he needed to plan and execute the massacre that killed 10 Black people and injured three others.
While the lawsuit is also going after an Iowa-based manufacturer of body armor, a New York-based gun store, a Georgia-based manufacturer of custom gun accessories and Gendron’s parents, it has also named the owners of six social media platforms and streaming services.
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Elmore says this lawsuit will be looking to make corporations to act in a responsible manner so that mass shootings are not taking place all too often in the country.
"This lawsuit is against a number of people that we felt led up to the shooting in Buffalo," said Elmore following Friday's press conference at his offices. "The social media platforms that radicalized Gendron, the body armor that protected him and gave him the confidence to do it. He was actually shot several times by the security guard, [Aaron] Salter, and it gave him the confidence to do that. And Gendron was in direct contact with a body armor salesperson who we believe should have known that bad things could happen. Then the social media platforms that radicalized him and, based upon manufacturing design with the algorithms where the social media platforms make a lot of money based on user engagement, and they're radicalizing other people. We want it to stop. The only way to stop it is to file litigation and have a court of law hold them to be responsible."
Elmore is representing three of the victims' families who lost a loved one in the May 14 shooting last year, while also representing one of the survivors in the racially motivated attack.
Attorney Terry Connors and his legal team represents the other seven families who lost their loved ones in the shooting on Jefferson Avenue, as well as two other survivors and their families. His team is also preparing for similar legal action as a result of the shooting that took place a year ago, and says he's been in close contact with Elmore, with respect to litigation and certain approaches to take.
"I'm very familiar with the claims that they have made, and we are looking at claims that are in the same area, similar claims, as well as additional claims to see if there is anything that we should include to hold those accountable for the mass shooting that occurred on May 14," said Connors.
As Elmore and his team prepare for the next steps in their legal fight, he knows it will be a difficult, and an elongated battle in the justice system to do what's right for the people of this nation.
"It's going to be a hell of a fight, it's not going to be easy," Elmore said. "They're gonna put up every roadblock, every legal defense that they have. We're going to be battling, I'm sure there's going to be appeals and hearings. Hopefully, a trial will come in our favor, but we're a long ways from there."
Meanwhile, Connors and his team are still in the final phases of filing their lawsuit similar to what Elmore and his group have filed. While he did not want to comment too much on the workings of his case until it is officially filed, he says it will be an uphill battle along the way.
"There are a number of lawsuits that have been filed against social media companies for various reasons throughout the United States. They're able to do that, file these lawsuits, because there is not complete total immunity," Connors said. "There are exceptions to the immunity provisions that apply, so people who are injured, who are, at least, looking to determine whether or not there was some influenced by some of these social media platforms, are looking to see if there's some responsibility. If there is, there should be accountability."
There are some elements like Freedom of Speech and Section 230 (originally part of the Communications Decency Act) that would make things very difficult to move forward with a lawsuit against social media platforms based on content and what is written. However, as Elmore explains, their legal actions are digging deeper below the surface.
"We're suing them based upon manufacturing design, meaning they're designed to send the algorithms to people that are susceptible, that are very harmful," he said. "In Gendron's case, it put him down a radical [road] with increasing more violent content, live shootings, live stream shootings in other cases. I mean, it just doesn't make sense that even the shooting at Tops was played over three million times when the social media platforms should be able to just push a button and stop it."
"The way they're designed to send dangerous content to people to keep them engaged, and that's what happened in this case. That's how he became radicalized, that's how he became really trained to do what he did."
During Elmore's press conference on Friday, he remarked how this case is one of the first lawsuits of its kind in the U.S. to hold social media and other manufacturers responsible for the actions that took place on May 14, 2022. He also points out it was Gendron, himself, who admitted during his guilty plea that social media was the cause of him becoming as radicalized as he was.
However, there was one other case that recently was heard in U.S. Supreme Court that pertained to social media influence in another attack in Europe.
"There was an incident in France, it was called the Gonzalez case, that was recently argued before the Supreme Court, where an American citizen was killed in France [in 2015] by somebody that was radicalized on the Internet. That case went to the Supreme Court, and it was argued a couple of months ago," Elmore explained. "My law partner, as well as the Social Media Victims founder, Matthew Bergman, were there in the front row watching that argument."
Connors also points to some similar cases that have been filed involving social media platforms and their alleged abuse of algorithms, but not pertaining to any sort of violence that took place as a result. Instead, it has more so focused on its use to persuade people to do certain things from a marketing standpoint.
"States like Arkansas, for example, have filed claims against social media, because they believe they have caused too much anxiety and depression among our youth. There are cases that have been filed against Facebook, because of what has been claimed as abuse of the algorithms to try to change conduct of individuals who subscribe regularly to the services. So there are a number of cases out there," Connors explained. "The case law is being developed in this area, and we're taking a look to see if this had any role in connection with the shooting on May 14."
Elmore says they will continue on with this legal battle until the very end, even assuring victory in their case to make the country a safer place without the constant threat of a mass shooting taking place.
How long may that exactly take? Connors says it can only be gauged in a matter of years rather than months.
"Every lawsuit that you file these days is slowed down by the docket that exists prior to the time your case is filed. So you have to take your place and wait in line," he said. "But this case will be subject to a number of different motions. There'll be some proceedings that will be preliminary to any trial, and generally that slows things down."