Key facts
- A U.S. appeals court allowed thousands of lawsuits over user addiction claims against social media companies to proceed.
- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected tech companies' attempts to dismiss over 3,000 lawsuits using Section 230 protections.
- The court ruled that Section 230 provides a defense to liability, not immunity from lawsuits, and that some appeals were premature.
- Meta, Alphabet's Google, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap Inc's Snapchat must face the litigation.
- Meta's bid to postpone a trial concerning children's data and addictive platform design was denied.
- A previous jury found Meta and Google negligent for designing social media platforms that harm young people.
A U.S. appeals court has allowed thousands of lawsuits alleging addictive product design against social media companies to move forward. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected attempts by Meta Platforms, Alphabet's Google, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap Inc's Snapchat to dismiss these cases based on Section 230 protections.
The ruling means that claims related to user addiction can now proceed against the social media platforms, which had sought to shield themselves from such litigation under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The court stated that Section 230 provides a defense to liability, not immunity from lawsuits, and that some appeals were filed too early.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act generally shields online platforms from liability for content posted by their users and from most third-party claims. The lawsuits allege that social media companies intentionally designed their platforms to be addictive to young users, contributing to mental health issues.
Meta's bid to postpone a trial beginning this week concerning children's data and addictive platform design was also denied by the court. This comes after a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a teen mental health fund for creating a public nuisance. Separately, a Los Angeles jury previously found Meta and Google negligent for designing social media platforms that harm young people, awarding $6 million to a plaintiff who became addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child.