Tech Giants Face Lawsuit From Victims Of Terrorist Attack

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Facebook, Twitter, and Google are being sued, again, for "knowingly and recklessly" allowing terrorism and ISIS support to spread on their platforms.

Families of the 14 people killed in 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino are following in the footsteps of other victims, and have filed a lawsuit against three tech giants.

Families of San Bernardino victims are suing Facebook, Twitter, and Google. The lawsuit includes four different terrorism related charges including negligent infliction of emotional distress and wrongful death.

"It really comes back to a fundamental issue of whether or not these sites can be held liable as a result of the behavior of the people using them," explained Richard Peirce, a Philadelphia intellectual property attorney.

In the past, these cases haven't made it pass the preliminary phase because, under federal law, these companies have immunity from liability for content posted by users.

"There's always the concern about shutting down speech in some way," said Peirce. "When people complain about forums for hate groups or forums for people that just engage in hate speech, most people can objectively agree that all of that stuff is garbage in one way or another, but one person's hate speech could be someone else's protected speech, especially in the United States."

Facebook, Twitter and Google have been sued unsuccessfully by the families of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting victims, and the family of an American killed in the Paris attack.