Supreme Court rejects the bid to sue Meta over church shooting

(Bloomberg) – The US Supreme Court has refused a chance to open social media companies for lawsuits on content recommended by their algorithms, and have raised an appeal that the Facebook of Meta Platforms Inc. accused of a man who killed nine churchgoers in South Carolina. The Rebuff ends a lawsuit filed by the daughter of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine people killed in 2015 by white Supremacist Dylann Roof, with a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Two lower courts threw out the suit. The appeal pointed to Article 230, a provision issued in 1996, which protects social media platforms and other internet businesses from the content placed by their users. Pickney’s daughter, known only in the court documents as MP, argues that Facebook’s algorithms used his internet history as a basis to connect him with communities that cultivated his view and made them more extreme. MP was at the church during the shooting and hid with her mother under a desk. Meta denies any offense. Article 230 provided criticism from both sides of the passage. Some liberals believe it makes platforms ignore hate speech and extremism. Conservatives have in the past complained that section 230 Shields platforms that censor right-wing votes. Technical giants have become more accommodating for conservatives since President Donald Trump has recaptured the White House, with several companies reaching settlements to solve years -old legal battles with him. Alphabet Inc. The Google recently agreed to pay $ 24.5m to solve Trump’s claims about being placed on the YouTube channel after January 6, 2021, Capitol Riot. In 2023, the Supreme Court, in a few cases involving terrorist content, considered the Supreme Court to narrow Article 230 immunity. The Court put the Article 230 issue instead of narrowing the use of a federal law against terrorism to perspaks. The case is mp v. Meta, 24-1133. More stories like these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP