Tech companies must face thousands of lawsuits over social media addiction, appeals court rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that a wave of lawsuits accusing major social media platforms of promoting addictive usage can move forward. The decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals came after Alphabet's Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram's parent), Snapchat's Snap, and ByteDance's TikTok attempted to overturn a lower California district court ruling.

Google, Meta, Snap, and TikTok contended they were shielded from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online service providers from legal action over content posted by third parties. The companies argued that Section 230 prevented them from being sued for allegedly failing to warn users about potential addictive effects of social media.

However, Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen dissented, stating that immunity from such suits should not be implied. Social media companies have been embroiled in numerous lawsuits alleging their design encourages addictive behavior and harms users' mental health. In March, Meta and YouTube were found liable for creating products that led to harmful and addictive behavior in young users.

TikTok and Snap had previously settled before their respective trials began. The lead plaintiff in that case was awarded $6 million.