`(Slip Opinion)
`
`
`
` Cite as: 598 U. S. ____ (2023)
`
`
`Per Curiam
`
`1
`
` NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
`
`
`
`
`
` United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of
`
`
`
`
` Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543,
`
` pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors.
`
`SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
`
`_________________
`
` No. 21–1333
`_________________
`
` REYNALDO GONZALEZ, ET AL., PETITIONERS v.
` GOOGLE LLC
`
`ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
`
`APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
`[May 18, 2023]
`
`
`
`
`
`PER CURIAM.
`In 2015, ISIS terrorists unleashed a set of coordinated at-
`
`tacks across Paris, France, killing 130 victims, including
`Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old U. S. citizen.1 Gonzalez’s
`
`parents and brothers then sued Google, LLC, under 18
`U. S. C. §§2333(a) and (d)(2), alleging that Google was both
`
`directly and secondarily liable for the terrorist attack that
`killed Gonzalez.2 For their secondary-liability claims,
`——————
`1“ISIS” is shorthand for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In some
`
`form or another, it has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization
`since 2004; ISIS has also been known as the Islamic State of Iraq and
`the Levant, al Qaeda in Iraq, and the al-Zarqawi Network.
`
`
` 2Title 18 U. S. C. §2333(a) provides: “Any national of the United States
`injured in his or her person, property, or business by reason of an act of
`international terrorism, or his or her estate, survivors, or heirs, may sue
`therefor in any appropriate district court of the United States and shall
`
`recover threefold the damages he or she sustains and the cost of the suit,
`
`including attorney’s fees.” Section 2333(d)(2) provides: “In an action un-
`der subsection (a) for an injury arising from an act of international ter-
`
`rorism committed, planned, or authorized by an organization that had
`
`been designated as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of
`the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U. S. C. 1189), as of the date on
`which such act of international terrorism was committed, planned, or
`authorized, liability may be asserted as to any person who aids and
`
`
`
`
`
`2
`
`
`GONZALEZ v. GOOGLE LLC
`
`
`Per Curiam
`plaintiffs alleged that Google aided and abetted and con-
`
`spired 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 fail-
`ure 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 Communica-
`
`
`
`tions Decency Act of 1996, 110 Stat. 137, 47 U. S. C.
`
`§230(c)(1). The sole exceptions were plaintiffs’ direct-
`and secondary-liability claims based on allegations that
`
`Google approved ISIS videos for advertisements and then
`shared proceeds with ISIS through YouTube’s revenue-
`sharing system. The Ninth Circuit held that these poten-
`
`tial 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 appli-
`cation 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’ com-
`
`plaint—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
`——————
`abets, by knowingly providing substantial assistance, or who conspires
`
`with the person who committed such an act of international terrorism.”
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`3
`
`
`
`
`
` Cite as: 598 U. S. ____ (2023)
`
`
`Per Curiam
`that the complaint here likewise fails to state such a claim.
`And, in discussing plaintiffs’ revenue-sharing claims, the
`Ninth Circuit held that plaintiffs plausibly alleged neither
`
`that “Google reached an agreement with ISIS,” as required
`for conspiracy liability, nor that Google’s acts were “in-
`tended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or to
`influence or affect a government,” as required for a direct-
`liability claim under §2333(a). 2 F. 4th, at 901, 907. Per-
`haps for that reason, at oral argument, plaintiffs only
`
`suggested that they should receive leave to amend their
`complaint if we were to reverse and remand in Twitter. Tr.
`of Oral Arg. 58, 163.
`We need not resolve either the viability of plaintiffs’
`
`claims as a whole or whether plaintiffs should receive fur-
`ther leave to amend. Rather, we think it sufficient to
`acknowledge that much (if not all) of plaintiffs’ complaint
`seems to fail under either our decision in Twitter or the
`
`Ninth Circuit’s unchallenged holdings below. We therefore
`decline to address the application of §230 to a complaint
`that appears to state little, if any, plausible claim for relief.
`Instead, we vacate the judgment below and remand the
`case for the Ninth Circuit to consider plaintiffs’ complaint
`in light of our decision in Twitter.
`
`
`
`
`It is so ordered.
`
`
`

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