San francisco: A US federal appeals court has dismissed appeals from Meta and TikTok that challenged lower-court rulings, which allowed claims in thousands of lawsuits alleging harm to young social media users to advance.
According to Anadolu Agency, the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, comprising a three-judge panel, ruled on Monday that it lacked jurisdiction to review the lower court's decisions at this point in the litigation process. Judge Jacqueline Nguyen, writing for the panel, clarified that "Section 230 merely provides a defense to liability, not immunity from suit."
The court's decision led to the dismissal of appeals filed by Meta Platforms and TikTok entities, along with conditional cross-appeals by groups of plaintiffs. This outcome enables the consolidated federal litigation to proceed but does not address the truth of the plaintiffs' allegations or the potential liability of the tech companies involved.
The multidistrict litigation involves lawsuits filed by individuals, state attorneys general, school districts, and local governments. Plaintiffs claim that social media platforms were intentionally designed to foster addictive behavior among children and adolescents, failed to verify users' ages, permitted young people to bypass parental controls, and inadequately shielded them from harmful content.
According to the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, as of August 3, 3,137 cases were pending in the consolidated proceeding, with 3,312 cases included since the litigation's inception. Chief US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California is overseeing the cases.
Defendants named in the litigation span several major tech companies, including Meta, Google and YouTube parent Alphabet, TikTok owner ByteDance, and Snapchat parent Snap.
Meta attempted to dismiss several categories of claims by invoking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally shields online services from being treated as publishers or speakers of third-party content. The District Court partially granted Meta's motions, allowing some claims to proceed while dismissing others.
Meta argued that the partial rejection of its Section 230 defense warranted an immediate appeal due to the law's provision of immunity from suit. TikTok supported Meta's arguments without separate briefing. However, the 9th Circuit found that Section 230 protects companies from liability under specific circumstances but does not grant them the right to completely avoid litigation.
The court stated that Meta could challenge the District Court's Section 230 decisions after a final judgment. It also noted that certain failure-to-warn claims were allowed to proceed temporarily, as the litigation was in its early stages and relevant laws continued to evolve.
The appeals court also dismissed as moot Meta's emergency request to pause an upcoming trial during the appeal process. Jury selection for a multistate attorneys general case against Meta is set to commence Wednesday in Oakland, California, with opening statements scheduled for August 18. The case alleges that Meta violated federal and state laws, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, through features on Facebook and Instagram that purportedly harmed children and teenagers or promoted compulsive use. Meta disputes these allegations.