Four people filed a lawsuit against Facebook in a Wisconsin federal court, arguing that the social media platform enabled the violence that took place during the protests in Kenosha.
The five-count civil complaint filed on Tuesday accuses Facebook of empowering “right-wing militias to inflict extreme violence and deprive Plaintiffs and protestors of their rights” by giving the groups a platform to recruit members and plan violence, Buzzfeed is reporting.
The suit also accuses alleged shooter and “boogaloo” boy Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, and the commander of the militia group Kenosha Guard, as part of a conspiracy to violate the constitutional rights of the four plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs named in the suit include Hannah Gittings, a woman whose partner was allegedly killed by Kyle Rittenhouse, Nathan Peet, a resident who tried to help people allegedly killed by Rittenhouse, longtime resident Christopher McNeal, and Carmen Palmer, a Black woman who traveled with her kids and a church group from Milwaukee to Kenosha.
“They were pointing guns out the window at us. I had my two teenage kids with me — they were scared to death, and I was scared. I almost had a panic attack,” Palmer told Buzzfeed. “I shouldn’t have to live in fear just because I would like to express my rights.”
The lawsuit is similar to Sines v. Kessler, filed in the wake of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Both suits cite Reconstruction-era laws in an attempt to hold white supremacists accountable.
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