Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh, 143 S.Ct. 1206 (2023)

  • Facts: ISIS used Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube—the platforms' algorithms recommended ISIS content the same way they recommended any other user's content. ISIS later carried out a 2017 attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, killing 39 (including Nawras Alassaf). The family sued under § 2333(d)(2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, alleging the platforms aided and abetted the attack.
  • Issue: Whether a social-media platform is civilly liable under the ATA for aiding and abetting a user's act of international terrorism merely by treating the user like every other user.
  • Rule: Aiding-and-abetting liability requires conscious, voluntary, and culpable participation in the wrongful act—not merely passive provision of generally available services.
  • Analysis: The platforms did not provide ISIS any special service or assistance. There was no evidence ISIS used the platforms to plan the Reina attack. Algorithmic recommendation, applied uniformly, is not culpable participation.
  • Judgment: Reversed; suit dismissed.

Reading: pp. 221–37. Takeaway: accomplice liability targets conscious, culpable participation. See Ch. 5—Accomplice Liability.