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Tesmata’s parents were once enthusiastic about social media. The 10-year-old from Ubarde, Texas, wanted to become famous in Tiktok. She danced, sang and imitated videos, but mom Veronica and dad Jerry were paying attention to her online habits.
However, Tess was then shot at Rob Elementary School in 2022. He was killed by one of the 19 children and a former student.
Since then, as details of the shooter’s personal life have been published, Mata and many other Ubarde families have come to believe that exposure to gun content online and in video games has led to tragedy.
Jerry and Veronica Mata are standing in front of Spring Street Courthouse in Los Angeles on July 17th. After their daughter Tess was killed in a shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the couple are suing Meta, Activity and Daniel’s defense to challenge social media and video game marketing.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
They are now suing three companies that claim they are profiting from the violent fantasies that led to the death of their children. The defendants include the maker of Call of Duty, a first-person military shooter game that says they have come across a virtual version of Daniel’s defense brand AR-15, which was used by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos in the attack. They are also suing Meta, claiming that Ramos encountered a gun ad on Instagram that promoted violence.
Matas and three other families of Uvalde traveled more than 1,200 miles this week to confront businesses in LA County Superior Court, where they filed claims of negligence, assistance, behaviour and unlawful death.
“They praise these weapons. They made young children want to buy these guns, and they seduced that younger children are so embracing these types of things,” Veronica Mata told The Times.
Activision, a Santa Monica-based video game developer, filed for fire, claiming that the First Amendment would protect Call of Duty as a work of art. Meta also fought to cast the case, referring to established case law that protects social media platforms from liability for third-party content posted by users and advertisers.
Whether case revenue will be decided at Friday’s downtown hearing
Jerry Mata holds the dog tag necklace of her daughter Tess, one of the 19 students killed at Rob Elementary School in Ubalde, Texas in 2022.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
The family claimed “Call of Duty,” one of the world’s best-selling video game franchises, and encouraged violence by catching Ramos in a recurring gameplay loop with real-world weapons. And they claim that Instagram equips him with knowledge of how, when and where to buy the guns he used.
“To put the details on it: the defendant bites alienated teenage boy and spits out a mass shooter,” the complaint alleges, with three of the deadliest school shootings in American history, Uvalde, Parkland and Sandy Hook, all committed by young people who played “Call of Duty” and used the AR-15.
“Call of Duty is not a game, it’s a simulation, it teaches players how to aim, reload and fire while maintaining the teenage nervous system to induce repeated graphic violence. And while the killing is virtual, the weapon is real.
Ramos’ choice of Daniel’s Defense AR-15 was intentional, according to the lawsuit. Smaller weapons manufacturers have a market share of less than 1%, but the specific railways that appear on popular “Call of Duty” guns made it easy for players to identify online despite a lack of in-game brands.
“It was the accused who gave Daniel Defense a direct line to the children’s home and chief, and the play was written for a way to market firearms while avoiding the law with parents, and the simulations with children for real weapons and the proficiency of children,” the complaint said.
Meta did not immediately respond to the Times request for comment. Nor did Daniel Defense, another defendant in the suit.
A photo of the weapon next to the truck crashed by a Robb Elementary School shooter on May 24, 2022.
(Pete Luna/Uvlade Leader-News)
The court has long rejected the idea that violent video games like Call of Duty are responsible for the actions of those who play them, despite the moral panic surrounding the issue, and overturn efforts to limit access to minors.
Most modern “Call of Duty” games are rated by the Entertainment Software Evaluation Committee against mature audiences over the age of 17, but are available to minors through online marketplaces that do not significantly verify someone’s age before purchasing.
“Adolescents who want to download Call of Duty can do that,” Josh Koskoff, a lawyer for the Uvalde family, told The Times.
Brown vs. Entertainment Merchant Asson, a 2011 Supreme Court case, broke a 2005 California law that banned violent video game sales to minors. In the country, “there was no tradition that specifically restricted children’s access to portrayals of violence… For example, Grimm’s fairy tales are really Grimm,” the late Judge Antonin Scalia wrote in a 7-2 majority opinion.
Activision has long defended the game as an artistic expression despite its criticism of its extreme violence. This can involve killing other combatants in combat simulations, sometimes in public places such as airports and urban sprawls.
“Call of Duty tells a complex story that explores the real-world combat scenarios that soldiers face in modern warfare. Call of Duty is undoubtedly expressive and fully protected by the initial revision,” the company said in a court application.
The family says they are still grieving their children and are challenging agencies that have not been able to protect them. The new case is another chapter that feels like taking on the giant, Veronica Mata said.
A woman walks near the promotion of “Call of Duty” in New York City on December 7th, 2022.
(Show press/Corvis via Getty Images)
The city of Uvalde approved a $2 million settlement in May for a flawed police response to the shooting, and the Texas Court of Appeal ordered the release of documents relating to the shooting Wednesday from the school board and county, local news reported.
“We can move forward, we can make that change and make them realize that what they’ve done and what they’re continuing to do doesn’t benefit them or anyone else,” Mata said.
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