U.S. Appeals Court Clears Path for Social Media Addiction Lawsuits
By Meileen Arroyo
A U.S. Appeals Court has cleared the way for more than 3,000 lawsuits accusing Google, Meta, TikTok and other companies of designing addictive platforms for adolescents.
The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, August 10, rejected the appeals made by Meta and TikTok to stop the cases from moving forward. The companies argued protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects companies from legal liability for user-generated content on their platforms. However, the court disagreed. In a 24-page opinion, Judge Jacqueline Nguyen, said the law provides a “defense to liability” but not complete immunity from being sued.
The lawsuits, made by families, school districts and states, alleged that social media plays a role in the rising mental health crisis among youth. The lawsuits argued that social media’s addictive features, algorithms and harmful content increase young people’s risk of depression, anxiety and self-esteem issues.
The ruling comes amid a growing international push to regulate children’s social media usage. Several countries are implementing their own social media bans aimed at protecting children from online harms. In December of last year, Australia introduced an under-16 social media ban targeting platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Other countries have since followed in Australia’s footsteps. In July, France approved a social media ban for children under 15, which is currently under constitutional review.
Meta has faced significant legal pressure to make changes to its online security measures. In one of the first lawsuits to go to trial in March, Meta and Google were found liable in a case brought by a young woman who said they became addicted to Instagram as a child. The Los Angeles jury awarded six million dollars in damages.
Just days before the latest appeals court ruling, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay 567 million dollars into a teen mental health fund and an additional 375 million in damages over misleading safety guidelines.
Despite this, Meta and Google deny any wrongdoings and said they plan to appeal the lawsuits.
