A lawsuit filed against multiple social media companies by the survivors of a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York will move forward.
Justice Paula Feroleto of the Erie County Supreme Court ruled on March 19 that the 40 plaintiffs could make their case against YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and Google almost two years after the attack.
The lawsuit was filed by the survivors of the 2022 shooting at the Tops grocery store as well as family members of the 10 people killed. The plaintiffs have accused YouTube, Reddit and other social media platforms of being “instrumental in preparing the shooter to commit his heinous attack.”
The gunman, Payton Gendron, was 18 years old at the time of the attack. He initially pleaded not guilty but changed his plea to guilty in November of 2022 and was sentenced to life in prison. Among the 15 charges brought against him, Gendron was charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate. All of the deceased victims of his attack, which he livestreamed, were black. One of the injured victims was also black and two were white. The Department of Justice believes Gendron was motivated by white supremacist ideology, and that his “motive for the mass shooting was to prevent Black people from replacing white people and eliminating the white race, and to inspire others to commit similar attacks.”
Gendron is also facing federal hate crime charges. The Department of Justice is seeking the death penalty. United States District Judge Lawrence Vilardo has scheduled that trial for Sept. 8, 2025.
In her order, Justice Feroleto wrote that it “is essentially undisputed that the horrific acts perpetrated by Gendron on May 14, 2022 were motivated by the concept of ‘white replacement theory.’”
“The Complaint states that Gendron became aware of this concept from information and posts on defendants’ platforms,” wrote Feroleto. “Some defendants may yet establish that their platforms are not products or that the negligent design features plaintiffs have alleged are not part of their platforms.”
“However, at this stage of the litigation the Court must base its ruling on the allegations of the complaint and not ‘facts’ asserted by the defendants in their briefs or during oral argument and those allegations allege viable causes of action under a products liability theory,” the judge continued.
The lawsuit against Reddit and YouTube, as well as YouTube parent companies Alphabet Inc. and Google, was filed in August of 2023. They also sued a gun manufacturer and a body armor company.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Everytown Law, the litigation arm of the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety, and civil rights attorneys from Bonner & Bonner and Ryder Law. In their complaint, the attorneys argue that Gendron’s almost constant use of social media leading up to the attack and the platform’s algorithms directed him to racist content that ultimately led to his radicalization.
Spokespeople for both Reddit and YouTube told ABC News that policies are in place to stop the spread of content considered to be extreme.
Reddit’s representative said that “hate and violence have no place” on the website and that the platform bans content that “promotes hate based on identity or vulnerability, as well as content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or group of people.”
“Through the years, YouTube has invested in technology, teams, and policies to identify and remove extremist content,” said José Castañeda, a spokesman for YouTube. “While we disagree with today's decision and will be appealing, we will continue to work with law enforcement, other platforms, and civil society to share intelligence and best practices."
