The families of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are suing Activision, Meta, and gun manufacturer Daniel Defense.
Attorney Josh Koskoff, who previously secured a settlement from Remington for Sandy Hook families, represents the plaintiffs. The suit against the tech companies states, “Over the last 15 years, two of America’s largest technology companies … have collaborated with the firearms industry in a scheme that makes the Joe Camel campaign look laughably harmless, even quaint.”
The lawsuit highlights Activision’s “Call of Duty” game franchise as a “cunning form of marketing [that] has helped cultivate a new, youthful consumer base for the AR-15 assault rifle.” It also points to Instagram, owned by Meta, asserting the platform “knowingly promulgates flimsy, easily circumvented rules that ostensibly prohibit firearm advertising; these rules function as a playbook for the gun industry.”
In a statement, Activision expressed sympathy for the families, stating, “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.” We’ve reached out to Activision and Meta for additional comment.
The lawsuit claims the Uvalde shooter was a “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” player and was targeted by Daniel Defense’s Instagram advertising. (Meta bans gun sales on its platforms, but The Washington Post previously reported that the company gives gun sellers 10 strikes before banning them.)
“Defendants are chewing up alienated teenage boys and spitting out mass shooters,” the lawsuit argues.
Politicians continue to debate whether video games promote gun violence. A recent review by the Stanford Brainstorm Lab examined 82 medical research articles and concluded, “current medical research and scholarship have not found any causal link between playing video games and gun violence in real life.”
