Lawsuit Claims Meta Should Be Liable For Security Guard's Death

MENLO PARK, CA — Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is facing a lawsuit from the family of Pat Underwood, a federal guard who was shot and killed while protecting the federal courthouse in Oakland in May 2020.

Angela Underwood Jacobs, the sister of Pat Underwood, claimed in a lawsuit that Robert Justus and Steven Carillo — the two men charged in Underwood’s death — were enabled by Facebook’s algorithm and group function.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, alleged that Justus and Carrillo would not have met and then coordinated the attack — in the midst of protests following the death of George Floyd — if not for a Facebook group consisting of followers of the anti-government boogaloo movement.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Justus and Carrillo coordinated the attack on the Facebook group. Justus then drove himself and Carrillo to the courthouse in Oakland, where Carrillo opened fire, according to prosecutors. Underwood was killed while another officer was wounded.

Carrillo pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder while Justus pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting murder.

The lawsuit stated Meta “knew or could have reasonably foreseen that one or more individuals would be likely to become radicalized upon joining boogaloo-related groups on Facebook, or that one or more individuals would be likely to take advantage of Meta’s promotion and recommendation of boogaloo groups to indoctrinate and incite Facebook users to commit extremist and violent acts against members of the law enforcement community.”

Underwood Jacobs wrote in a legal filing that Facebook “aided and abetted an act of domestic terrorism,” according to the New York Post. “No one is holding Facebook accountable, and that’s wrong.”

Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, internet companies and websites are protected from liability for what third-party users post, a statute that the suit challenges.

Andy Stone, a Meta spokesperson, told The New York Times that the social media giant has “banned more than 1,000 militarized social movements from our platform and work closely with experts to address the broader issue of internet radicalization. These claims are without legal basis.”