2
GONZALEZ v. GOOGLE LLC
Per Curiam
plaintiffs alleged that Google aided and abetted and conspired with ISIS. All of their claims broadly center on the
use of YouTube, which Google owns and operates, by ISIS
and ISIS supporters.
The District Court dismissed plaintiffs’ complaint for failure to state a claim, though it offered plaintiffs leave to
amend their complaint. Instead, plaintiffs stood on their
complaint and appealed, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed in
a consolidated opinion that also addressed Twitter, Inc. v.
Taamneh, ___ U. S. ___ (2023). 2 F. 4th 871 (2021). With
respect to this case, the Ninth Circuit held that most of the
plaintiffs’ claims were barred by §230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, 110 Stat. 137, 47 U. S. C.
§230(c)(1). The sole exceptions were plaintiffs’ directand secondary-liability claims based on allegations that
Google approved ISIS videos for advertisements and then
shared proceeds with ISIS through YouTube’s revenuesharing system. The Ninth Circuit held that these potential claims were not barred by §230, but that plaintiffs’
allegations failed to state a viable claim in any event.
We granted certiorari to review the Ninth Circuit’s application of §230. See 598 U. S. ___ (2022). Plaintiffs did not
seek review of the Ninth Circuit’s holdings regarding their
revenue-sharing claims. In light of those unchallenged
holdings and our disposition of Twitter, on which we also
granted certiorari and in which we today reverse the Ninth
Circuit’s judgment, it has become clear that plaintiffs’ complaint—independent of §230—states little if any claim for
relief. As plaintiffs concede, the allegations underlying
their secondary-liability claims are materially identical to
those at issue in Twitter. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 58. Since we
hold that the complaint in that case fails to state a claim for
aiding and abetting under §2333(d)(2), it appears to follow
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abets, by knowingly providing substantial assistance, or who conspires
with the person who committed such an act of international terrorism.”