The father of woman killed by ISIS asks the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a case involving algorithms, terrorism, and free speech. As YouTube celebrates its 17th birthday, the game-changing user-generated video platform once known for funny pet videos and other benign content continues to attract criticism for its alleged role in fostering extremism. Ample evidence casts doubt on the idea that social media platforms are radicalizing American youth, but high-profile anecdotes about bad turns allegedly inspired by YouTube, Facebook, and other sites make it hard to combat such claims. Now one such story may come before the Supreme Court—and threaten a foundational internet speech law.
The case (Gonzalez v. Google LLC) involves a man whose daughter was killed in a 2015 ISIS attack in Paris. The grieving father, Reynaldo Gonzalez, sued YouTube's parent company, Google, under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act. Gonzalez claims that ISIS posted recruitment videos on YouTube, that YouTube recommended these videos to users, and that this led to his daughter's death.
