Appeals Court Lets 3,000+ Social Media Addiction Lawsuits Proceed Against Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap

Thousands of lawsuits alleging that Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap designed products to addict young users can proceed, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday, rejecting the companies' attempt to strike the litigation before trial. The ruling clears the way for more than 3,000 federal cases — and roughly 3,300 more consolidated in California state court — to continue against the platform giants.

Section 230 Is a Defense, Not Immunity

The companies argued that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online services from liability over user-posted content, also barred claims that they failed to warn the public about addictive design. The appeals court disagreed, holding that the appeal came too early in the litigation: "Although Section 230 does not expressly provide for immunity from suit, Meta argues that such immunity should be implied. We disagree," Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen wrote. The panel also denied Meta's request to postpone a trial set to begin Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by 29 state attorneys general alleging the company illegally collected and used children's data and engineered its platforms to keep young users hooked.

The cases, filed by states, municipalities, school districts and individual families and centralized before US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, seek damages, penalties and restitution over claims that addictive designs fueled a surge in youth depression and anxiety. The ruling follows a string of courtroom losses for the companies: a Los Angeles jury in March found Meta and Google negligent in the first case to reach trial, awarding $6 million to a plaintiff who said she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child, and Meta lost both phases of a New Mexico suit — a $375 million jury award in March and a judge's additional $567 million public nuisance penalty last week, according to Reuters.

What Comes Next

The decision is procedural — the Section 230 question will be revisited on appeal after trial — but experts say it has broad implications for the tech industry, which had argued the statute should shield platform design decisions entirely. Both Meta and Google denied wrongdoing and said they plan to appeal, while plaintiffs' attorneys said the ruling means "a trial is how the public finds out what Meta knew about its products' impact on children."