9th Circuit Court Allows Social Media Addiction Lawsuits to Proceed

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that thousands of lawsuits against major social media companies can proceed, rejecting attempts by Meta Platforms, Alphabet's Google, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap Inc. to reverse a lower court's decision. The companies argued that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 shielded them from claims that they failed to warn the public about the addictive nature of their platforms. The court concluded the appeal was premature, determining that Section 230 provides a defense to liability rather than total immunity from lawsuits.

Centralized before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, the litigation includes claims from individuals, school districts, municipalities, and states. These plaintiffs allege the companies intentionally designed products to addict young users, contributing to a youth mental health crisis. In a related move, the court denied a request from Meta to postpone a trial involving 29 state attorneys general regarding the illegal collection of children's data.

While these federal cases move forward, Meta and Google have already faced adverse verdicts in California and New Mexico. In one Los Angeles case, a jury found the companies negligent and awarded $6 million in damages to a plaintiff.