Jessica Guynn

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook, Google and Twitter are being sued by the families of three victims slain in the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub for allegedly providing "material support" to the Islamic State.

The lawsuit, first reported by Fox News, was filed Monday in federal court in the eastern district of Michigan on behalf of the families of Tevin Crosby, Javier Jorge-Reyes and Juan Ramon Guerrero.

The lawsuit is the latest to target popular Internet services for making it too easy for the Islamic State to spread its message. In June, the family of a California college student killed in last year's terrorist attacks in Paris sued Facebook, Google and Twitter. Keith Altman, the attorney representing the three families in the Orlando nightclub lawsuit, also represents the family of that student, Nohemi Gonzalez, in the Paris terrorist attacks lawsuit.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, uses popular Internet services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube to spread propaganda, to attract and train new recruits, to celebrate terrorist attacks and publicize executions.

Earlier this month, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter said they would share a database of terror images and videos to more quickly remove terrorism content.

Related:

Twitter sued by widow for alleged aid to ISIL

Paris terrorist attacks victim's family sues Facebook, Google and Twitter

Omar Mateen opened fire inside Orlando's Pulse nightclub in June, killing 49 patrons and injuring 53 others in one of the deadliest shooting sprees in U.S. history. A 29-year-old security guard who pledged his allegiance to ISIS, Mateen was not a member of the terrorist group but had been inspired by it.

"Without Defendants Twitter, Facebook, and Google (YouTube), the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," the lawsuit alleges.

In a statement, Facebook said its community standards bar groups from engaging in terrorist activity. "We take swift action to remove this content when it's reported to us," Facebook said. "We sympathize with the victims and their families.”

Google and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.

The biggest hurdle the lawsuit faces is a federal law that shields publishers from liability for the speech of others.

Last month Twitter defeated a lawsuit brought by families of two American contractors killed in an attack in Jordan inspired by ISIL, reaffirming social media companies' immunity from liability for user-generated content. The law in question, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, shielded Twitter as a publisher of third-party content.

Altman is attempting a novel legal strategy. In an interview, he said Facebook, Google and Twitter should be held liable for what users post on their services because they pair content with advertising.

"They create unique content by combining ISIS postings with advertisements in a way that is specifically targeted at the viewer," the lawsuit alleges. "Defendants share revenue with ISIS for its content and profit from ISIS postings through advertising revenue."

Earlier this month, Altman revised his lawsuit on behalf of Gonzalez's family to allege there, too, that the companies created "original content."

"Although defendants have not created the posting, nor have they created the advertisement, defendants have created new unique content by choosing which advertisement to combine with the posting," the lawsuit contends.