Symbolic imageUS appeals court lets social media addiction suits proceed
A US appeals court ruled on Monday that Meta, Google, TikTok and Snapchat must face thousands of lawsuits alleging they designed their platforms to addict children. It also refused to delay a separate Meta trial due to open on Wednesday.
The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals found the companies had appealed too early, before any verdict, and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 is a defence to liability rather than immunity from being sued; the platforms had argued it also bars claims that they failed to warn the public about addictive design. Nikkei Asia and Al Jazeera count more than 3,000 federal suits, the South China Morning Post some 2,400, filed by states, municipalities, school districts and families.
Meta on trial against 29 states
That trial was brought by 29 state attorneys general, who accuse Meta of illegally collecting children's data and misleading the public about its platforms' safety.
Earlier verdicts already cost Meta
A Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google negligent and awarded $6m to a 20-year-old woman, Reuters reports; a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375m and a judge a further $567m. Both firms deny wrongdoing and plan to appeal.
Other opinions
Al Jazeera embeds the ruling in a global push to bar minors from platforms, noting French, British and Australian bans; Nikkei Asia and the South China Morning Post keep to the court procedure.