A federal appeals court on Aug. 10 permitted thousands of lawsuits to proceed against major social media companies over allegations their products are designed to addict young users.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit turned away an appeal by TikTok and Meta to reverse a lower court ruling forcing them to face approximately 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal court. Meta is the parent company of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The panel held the companies’ appeal was premature.
The companies had argued that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996—which shields online companies from claims arising from content posted by users—also blocks lawsuits claiming they failed to inform the public that their platforms can be addictive….