Families of Uvalde shooting victims are suing Activision and Meta

The families of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are suing Activision and Meta, as well as gun manufacturer Daniel Defense.

The families filing the lawsuits are represented by attorney Josh Koskoff, who previously won a settlement from Remington for the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. The lawsuit against the technology companies claims: “Over the past fifteen years, two of America’s largest technology companies… have collaborated with the firearms industry in a scheme that the Joe Camel campaign look laughably harmless, even strange.

Specifically, the lawsuit points to Activision’s popular video game franchise “Call of Duty,” describing it as a “devious form of marketing.” [that] has helped cultivate a new, youthful consumer base for the AR-15 assault rifle,” and on Instagram, Meta’s photo app, which the lawsuit alleges “knowingly promulgates weak, easily circumvented rules that ostensibly ban firearms advertising; in fact, these rules function as a playbook for the arms industry.”

In a statementActivision expressed condolences to the families, but said, “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to heinous acts.” We have reached out to Activision and Meta for additional comment.

According to the lawsuit story, the Uvalde shooter was a “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” player, and he was also the target of Daniel Defense’s ads on Instagram. (Meta bans the sale of guns on its platforms, but The Washington Post previously reported that the company gives gun sellers 10 strikes before starting them.)

“Defendants chew up alienated teenage boys and spit out mass shooters,” the lawsuit states.

Politicians continue to debate whether video games promote gun violence. A recent review by the Stanford Brainstorm Lab reviewed 82 medical research articles on the subject and concluded: “current medical research and science have not found any causal link between video game playing and gun violence in real life.”