Meta can't stop states' $1.4 trillion lawsuit from going to trial

A federal appeals court has determined that Meta and TikTok cannot block thousands of lawsuits accusing them of fostering social media addiction among minors.

In a unanimous decision, a panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the tech giants' arguments that they possess total immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The judges ruled that Section 230 acts as a legal defense against ultimate liability rather than an absolute protection against facing a lawsuit, thereby dismissing the companies' immediate appeals. This ruling clears the way for a highly anticipated trial scheduled to begin this month, where state attorneys general are pursuing massive financial remedies that Meta estimates could exceed one trillion dollars.

The expansive legal battle consolidates thousands of complaints from various states, local school districts, and families targeting popular platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat. Plaintiffs assert that these companies deliberately designed their products to encourage compulsive behavior among adolescents while failing to implement effective age-verification methods or parental oversight tools. Although the district court previously restricted some design-related allegations, it allowed claims based on the companies' failure to warn the public about known mental health risks to proceed to trial. This appellate loss represents another severe legal setback for Meta, coming closely on the heels of a separate state-level ruling in New Mexico that ordered the company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to fund youth mental health initiatives.