Elmore says the goal is to force reform.
“We cannot bring the victims of this lawsuit back, but we can make sure that no other family has to file this kind of lawsuit,” he said. Elmore said: “No family deserves to be a member of this enviable club.
The lawsuit is essentially aimed at the entire journey that took Gendron from an ordinary American teenager to a violent white supremacist — one armed with the means and intent to slaughter as much as possible. Black people better. They point to platforms like Facebook and Snapchat as the first part of that process.
“Gendron’s radicalization on social media was neither accidental nor an accident,” the lawsuit alleges. “It is a foreseeable consequence of the respondent social media companies’ conscious decision to design, program, and operate platforms and tools to maximize user engagement. users (and corresponding ad revenue) at the expense of public safety.”
The lawsuit claimed that the ideology of white supremacy had taken over Gendron, specifically “the great alternative theory”—the imagining of an international conspiracy to undermine the political power of Gendron. white people—is a “product of social media.” Although it may have been conjured up by a French author and promoted by hardline neo-Nazis, the lawsuit claims that “alternative theorists are heavily dependent on the Internet. social media—as well as the tools and features that the Social Network Defends use to increase their own engagement—to promote racist ideology among young and impressionable believers. statue.
Elmore argues in her filing that exposure to this type of hate propaganda as a teenager, combined with the addictive nature of social media, fundamentally altered Grendron’s brain chemistry. .
Social media platforms have maximized user engagement “not by showing them the content they requested or wanted to see, but rather by showing them and otherwise produce content they can’t take their eyes off,” the complaint continued. “Taking full advantage of Gendron’s incomplete frontal lobe development, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat have maintained engagement with his product by targeting him with content and connections. increasingly radical and violent, based on information and beliefs, promoting racism, anti-Semitism and gun violence. “
Elmore argues that this is not an error. “These products have performed as designed and intended.”
These backgrounds pointed Gendron to the next step in his radicalization: 4chan.
Although there was no algorithm on the infamous image board, there was a “community of racists waiting to urge him forward,” the lawsuit alleges. Furthermore, Gendron is a frequent user of /k/, the weapon board. That and similar communities on Discord helped him prepare for the attack and increased his chances of success.
The lawsuit points out that financial backer 4chan Good Smile, a major Japanese toy company, in 2015 invested $2.4 million for a 30% stake in the site, according to documents obtained by WIRED. Only come report from WIRED and a lawsuit filed by a former employee of the company, the families allege that Good Smile’s role in 4chan “was not that of a passive investor but rather an active participant in the management of the site.” society.”
In a statement from April, Good Smile denied the WIRED report, emphasizing, “We have no partnership with 4chan, have never had influence over the management and/or control of 4chan. .” However, in the same statement, Good Smile also said, “We have severed all restrictive relationships we previously had with 4chan in June 2022. Since then, we have not had any any relationship with 4chan.” The company invoked a “duty of confidentiality” that prevented it from commenting on the matter and has ignored numerous requests for comment.
