The families of the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas are suing Activision and Meta, as well as gun manufacturer Daniel Defense.
The families filing the suit are represented by attorney Josh Koskoff, who previously worked for Won settlement from Remington To the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. Lawsuits against technology companies The claim is, “Over the past 15 years, two of America’s largest technology companies … have collaborated with the firearms industry in a scheme that Joe Camel Campaign seem ridiculously harmless, even bizarre.”
In particular, the lawsuit points to Activision’s popular “Call of Duty” video game franchise, which it describes as a “clever form of marketing” [that] helped create a new, young consumer base for the AR-15 assault rifle,” and Instagram, the photo app owned by Meta, which the lawsuit claims “intentionally promotes weak, easily circumvented rules that ostensibly prohibit firearm advertising; in fact, these rules serve as a playbook for the gun industry.”
In a statementActivision expressed sympathy for the families, but added, “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.” We’ve contacted Activision and Meta for additional comment.
The lawsuit says the Uvalde shooter was a player of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” and was also targeted by a Daniel Defense ad on Instagram. (Meta has banned gun sales on its platform, but the Washington Post previously reported that The company gives gun sellers 10 strikes before booting them up.)
“Defendants are harassing alienated teenage boys and turning out people who commit mass shootings,” the lawsuit argues.
There is ongoing debate among politicians as to whether video games promote gun violence. Recent review by Stanford Brainstorm Lab looked at 82 medical research articles on the topic and concluded, “Current medical research and scholarship has found no causal link between video game playing and real-life gun violence.”
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