No. 21-1496October Term 2022Decided May 18, 2023
Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that social media platforms cannot be held liable for aiding and abetting international terrorism under 18 U.S.C.
Case status
- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released May 18, 2023
- What it's about
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that social media platforms cannot be held liable for aiding and abetting international terrorism under 18 U.S.C. Section 2333 merely for failing to take more aggressive action to remove terrorist content. The Court found that providing generalized platform access does not constitute knowingly providing substantial assistance to a specific terrorist attack.
Question presented
1. Whether a defendant that provides generic, widely available services to billions of users and allegedly fails to take and enforce "meaningful" aggressive-content-removal policies to prevent terrorists from using those services has "knowingly provided substantial assistance" under 18 U.S.C. § 2333(d)(2), and is thus liable for an act of international terrorism. 2. Whether liability under Section 2333(d)(2) requires proof that the defendant provided substantial assistance to the specific act of international terrorism that injured the plaintiff.
- Case path
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit / Decision released May 18, 2023
- Area
Immigration
Documents
Related cases
Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Mar 31, 2026
- Method
- Methodology