DiCello Levitt won a major victory in our efforts to achieve justice for the victims of the racially motivated mass shooting in a Buffalo, New York, grocery store when, in May 2024, a New York State Supreme Court judge ordered that a lawsuit move forward against Meta, TikTok, and numerous other social media companies, as well as body armor manufacturers and retailers, for causing the death of ten innocent people.

In a groundbreaking opinion, Judge Paula L. Feroleto denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss in their entirety, finding that the plaintiffs can sufficiently allege claims to establish that the defendants were not entitled to immunity pursuant to the Communications Decency Act or to the protections of the First Amendment. In addition to other findings, Judge Feroleto found that social media applications were indeed products under New York’s product liability law, a significant matter of first impression.

The lawsuit stems from the horrific events that occurred on May 14, 2022, when a 19-year-old white man opened fire on patrons of a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo. An investigation found that he had targeted the store because of its predominantly Black clientele and went there with the intent of killing as many Black people as possible. The gunman pleaded guilty in November 2022 to 10 counts of first-degree murder, domestic terrorism motivated by hate, and attempted murder motivated by hate.

Representing the families of seven of the ten individuals killed, as well as six injured plaintiffs, DiCello Levitt filed this suit to hold Meta, Reddit, Amazon, Alphabet, Snap, and other social media companies accountable for their enablement of the mass shooting and to ensure that these companies change their practices by ceasing to design addictive products. The complaint also names Vintage Firearms and body armor manufacturers as defendants.

This landmark decision means that social media companies may be found accountable for their role in mass shootings—a ruling that will not only force these companies to change their practices but also allow families to obtain justice after horrific events where shooters are radicalized online.

The case is Kimberly J. Salter, et al. v. Meta Platforms, et al. DiCello Levitt’s team is led by Diandra “Fu” Debrosse, Ken Abbarno, Amy Keller, and Justin Hawal.