A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the attempts of major social media companies to dismiss nationwide lawsuits that accuse them of unlawfully luring millions of children and then addicting them to their platforms, which harms their mental health. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued the ruling in Oakland, California, against Alphabet, which operates Google and YouTube, Meta platforms that manage Facebook and Instagram, ByteDance, which operates TikTok, and Snap, which runs Snapchat.
The ruling encompasses hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of children who are said to have suffered negative impacts on their physical, mental, and emotional health due to social media use, experiencing anxiety, depression, and, in some cases, suicidal tendencies. Rogers dismissed arguments claiming that the defendants were protected by immunity under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and a provision in the Federal Communications Decency Act that protects internet companies from third-party lawsuits.
Some claims regarding design defects in the defendants' platforms were also rejected. The lawsuits seek undisclosed damages and an end to the alleged illegal practices of the defendants. More than 140 school districts and over 30 state attorneys general have filed similar lawsuits against the sector.
