United States of America

Court Rejects Social Media Bids to Block Youth Addiction Suits

Should companies face trial for profiteering from child addiction or does Section 230 grant immunity from legal action?

Published AUG 11

Court Rejects Social Media Bids to Block Youth Addiction Suits

Story

Above: The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California, on June 12, 2017. Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Facts

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed petitions by Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google on Monday seeking to block thousands of lawsuits alleging that their platforms were designed to be addictive to young users.
Court Listener
Anadolu Agency
TechCrunch
The tech giants had argued that Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 — which typically protects online service providers from liability for user-generated content — provided immunity from the plaintiffs' claims that they failed to warn the public about their products.
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United States Congress
Writing for the three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen, however, held that Section 230 "merely provides a defense to liability — not immunity from suit," meaning the appeals court lacked jurisdiction to review the lower court's rulings on an interlocutory basis.
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The decision greenlit consolidated federal litigation, managed by Chief U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, encompassing more than 3,300 cases filed by individuals, school districts, municipalities and state attorneys general against the four companies.
The Straits Times
NBC
In addition, the appeals court denied Meta's request to delay a trial brought by 29 state attorneys general beginning Wednesday, which alleges the company illegally collected children's data, designed platforms to keep young users engaged and misled consumers about safety.
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Al Jazeera
It follows two landmark trials, one in New Mexico against Meta and the other against Meta and YouTube in Los Angeles, that imposed nearly $1 billion in combined fines over child safety and social media addiction. Meta claims it faces $1.4 trillion in lawsuits.
New Mexico Department of Justice
guardian
Meta
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Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

Section 230 is a defense to liability, not a get-out-of-court-free card. The families of those allegedly affected by social media products deserve their day in court and if these giants want to avoid penalties, they will have to prove their innocence in court, like everyone else.

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Narrative B

The Ninth Circuit has spent decades calling Section 230 protection immunity from suit, not just a liability shield, and gutting that distinction now exposes every online platform to costly, protracted litigation Congress explicitly wanted to prevent. Allowing these bogus failure-to-warn claims to proceed will chill free speech online and smother future internet innovation.

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