Woman Sues Twitter for Allegedly Allowing ISIS to Spread Propaganda

The man was assigned to a police station in Amman, Jordan when died.

ByABC News
January 14, 2016, 9:18 PM

— -- The widow of an American man killed in Amman, Jordan during an attack on police there has sued Twitter, blaming the social media platform for allegedly making it easier for ISIS to spread its propaganda, court documents say.

Tamara Fields' husband, Lloyd -- an Army Veteran and who helps train police officers -- died on Nov. 9, shot by a Jordanian police captain. ISIS claimed responsibility, according to the lawsuit. His widow claims Twitter knowingly allows ISIS to use it as a tool to raise money, attract recruits and spread extremist propaganda, the complaint, which was filed Wednesday in California, states.

"Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible,” the complaint says.

"This material support has been instrumental to the rise of ISIS and has enabled it to carry out numerous terrorist attacks," the complaint states.

ISIS had about 70,000 accounts with Twitter and posted at a rate of 90 tweets per minute at the time of Lloyd Fields' death, the complaint stated.

Citing the FBI, the complaint says ISIS has perfected its use of Twitter to inspire small-scale individual attacks and to "crowdsource terrorism" and "sell murder."

According to the complaint, the official ISIS public relations group, Al-Hayat Media Center, has at least six accounts dedicated to attracting Westerners. Several photos and cartoons used to spread ISIS propaganda were included in the court documents.

On June 20, 2014, Twitter founder Biz Stone responded to media inquiries about ISIS's use of Twitter to publicize its act of terrorism:

“If you want to create a platform that allows for the freedom of expression for hundreds of millions of people around the world, you really have to take the good with the bad,” Stone said, according to the complaint.

Lloyd Fields had been assigned to the International Police Training Center in Amman, a facility run and funded in part by the U.S. State Department.

Neither Fields' attorneys nor a representative for Twitter were immediately available for ABC News' request for comment.

“While we believe the lawsuit is without merit, we are deeply saddened to hear of this family's terrible loss. Like people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups and their ripple effects on the Internet," Twitter said in a statement in response to the suit.

"Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear. We have teams around the world actively investigating reports of rule violations, identifying violating conduct, partnering with organizations countering extremist content online, and working with law enforcement entities when appropriate.”