Lawsuits filed against Meta, Microsoft, and gun manufacturer by families of Uvalde school shooting victims

Families of the victims of the tragic 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, have taken legal action by filing two lawsuits against Instagram’s parent company Meta, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, and gunmaker Daniel Defense. The lawsuits allege that these companies collaborated to market dangerous weapons to impressionable teens, including the Uvalde shooter.

According to the wrongful death complaints, Daniel Defense utilized Instagram and Activision’s video game Call of Duty to promote its assault-style rifles to teenage boys, with Meta and Microsoft facilitating this strategy with little oversight. The families argue that this marketing strategy played a role in the devastating school shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers.

The lawsuits, filed on the two-year anniversary of the massacre, were brought forth by the law firm Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, which previously secured a $73 million settlement with rifle manufacturer Remington on behalf of families affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The first lawsuit accuses Meta’s Instagram of providing gun manufacturers with a platform to directly reach minors, while the second lawsuit targets Daniel Defense for allegedly targeting adolescent boys in their advertising campaigns.

Josh Koskoff, one of the families’ lawyers, stated, “There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting. This three-headed monster knowingly exposed him to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it.”

In response, Daniel Defense has dismissed the lawsuits as “frivolous” and “politically motivated.” Meanwhile, families of the victims have also announced a separate lawsuit against state police officers involved in the botched emergency response to the shooting. The legal battle continues as the families seek justice for their loved ones lost in this tragic event.