MADISON, Wis. (NewsNation Now) — A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday demands that Facebook prevent militias and hate groups from using the site, after a militia group used the platform to draw armed people to protests in Wisconsin last month that left two people dead.
The four plaintiffs including the partner of one of the slain men, contend in their lawsuit that Facebook received more than 400 complaints about a militia group’s post but that its moderators decided the post didn’t violate the company’s policies.
The group called on armed people to guard property in Kenosha after several nights of sometimes violent protests following the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake. The officer shot Blake seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
The suit seeks a court order that would force the social media giant to remove posts calling for violence as well as posts by militia groups and hate groups.
It also seeks unspecified damages for the plaintiffs, who say they were traumatized by their interactions with the armed men during the Aug. 25 protests.
“Facebook’s inaction led to the death of two protesters, in addition to the harm suffered by Plaintiffs,” the lawsuit states. “The enabling and empowering of militias to conspire with its platform and tools allows white supremacist groups to recruit, organize, and thrive, while Facebook continues to profit from their activities, and those who fight for social justice continue to die.”
Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old police admirer from nearby Antioch, Illinois, has been charged with gunning down protesters Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounding a third man, Gage Grosskreutz, on the night of Aug. 25.
According to the lawsuit, a militia group calling itself the Kenosha Guard put out a call on its Facebook page for armed people to guard property in the city, which sits along Lake Michigan between Milwaukee and Chicago. Among those who took up the call was Rittenhouse, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs include Hannah Gittings, who describes herself as Huber’s life partner. She said she watched Huber die and suffered threats and insults from members of the Kenosha Guard and the Boogaloo Bois, an anti-government extremist group. Some of them pointed their guns at her, the lawsuit alleges.
Another plaintiff, Christopher McNeal, is Black and was confronted, commanded, assaulted and harassed by militia, according to the lawsuit. A third plaintiff, a Black woman named Carmen Palmer, says she traveled to the protest with her children and that militia members threatened her, sprayed her with pepper spray and slashed her group’s tires. The fourth plaintiff is Nathan Peet, a freelance journalist who says he tried to help Rosenbaum after he was shot but that his efforts were hampered by militia who “corralled” protesters following the shooting.
“The planning and preparation exhibited in this (Kenosha Guard) post led to Plaintiffs and other protesters being terrorized, assaulted, harassed, and placed in so much fear when facing the business end of military grade assault rifles that they determined it was too dangerous to continue to protest,” the lawsuit said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for allowing the Kenosha Guard’s post, calling it an “operational mistake,” the lawsuit said. Facebook didn’t immediately reply to a Wednesday email seeking comment about the lawsuit.
Rittenhouse faces two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide, among other charges. His attorneys have argued that he was only trying to protect an auto shop from looting and opened fire in self-defense after Rosenbaum tried to take his gun, Huber hit him in the head with a skateboard and Grosskreutz tried to take his gun.
The three officers who were at the scene when Blake was shot were placed on paid administrative leave while the state Department of Justice oversees an investigation into whether any of them should face charges.
