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(A7) Will a pro-Israel legal advocacy group manage to defeat one of the world’s biggest tech giants? We sat down with Nitsana Darshan Leitner, the chairwoman of Shurat Hadin, a pro-Israel legal advocacy group that will soon face Google in the United States Supreme Court over allegations claiming the tech company aided and abetted terrorism.
“This is the end of a very long journey, which we started in 2015 when we started filing lawsuits against social media giants, Facebook, Twitter, and Google, for aiding and abetting terrorism,” Darshan Leitner recounts and explains: “The argument was that social media provide social services to a designated terror organization in violation of the United States anti-terrorism act.”
Darshan Leitner explains that the tech companies allow Hamas, ISIS, and other terror groups to recruit operatives, raise funds, communicate, and do a slew of other actions on their platforms.
Regarding the question of whether a tech company is responsible for what appears on its platform, Nitsana explains that while in the 90s Congress ruled that social media could not be classified as publishers since they did not have control over their content, today social media are able to control and even profit from content. That results in social media being responsible for what is uploaded to its platforms
Regarding her chances in court, Attorney Darshan-Leitner is optimistic: “This is the first time the Supreme Court of the United States is to hear this type of case, and for the first time, these companies might lose their immunity. You have to realize that CNN defined this case as one that would bring the social media giants to their knees. The Wall Street Journal said that this is an explosion for social media because once you take away their immunity, they are exposed, and will be found liable for anything that goes on the internet,” and adds, “It’s going to be huge, and I’m pretty sure that we’re going to win.”
