The families of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, have defendant Editor of Call of Duty, Activision and Meta. They alleged that the companies “knowingly exposed the shooter to the gun (he used), conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it.” The plaintiffs also accused the enterprises of “chewing up alienated teenagers and spitting out mass shooters.”
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs explained that the Uvalde shooter played Obligations, which featured an assault rifle made by gun manufacturer Daniel Defense. They also mentioned that he frequently visited instagram, which advertised the weapons manufacturer's products. The lawsuit further stated that instagram offers gun manufacturers “an unsupervised channel to speak directly to minors, in their homes, at school, even in the middle of the night.” He argued that the shooter was “a poor, isolated teenager” from a small Texas town who only knew about AR-15s and set his sights on them because he was exposed to the weapon while playing. Obligations and visiting instagram. Additionally, he accused Meta of being more lenient toward firearms sellers than other users who break its rules. Meta prohibits the purchase and sale of weapons and ammunition, but users can technology/2022/06/09/facebook-gun-sellers-10-strikes/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:violate the policy 10 times;cpos:5;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>violate policy 10 times before they are banned from their platforms.
“The truth is that the gun industry and Daniel Defense did not act alone. They could not have reached this child if it had not been for instagram,” plaintiffs' attorney Josh Koskoff said at a news conference. “They couldn't expose him to the dopamine circuit that practically kills a person. That's what Call of Duty does.” Koskoff's law firm was the same one that reached a $73 million settlement with rifle maker Remington for the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
An Activision spokesperson said Washington Post and Bloomberg Law that “the shooting in Uvalde was horrendous and heartbreaking in every way” and that the company expresses its deepest condolences to the families, but “millions of people around the world enjoy video games without resorting to horrible acts.”
