Federal judge allows states to sue Meta over teen mental health issues through social media addiction

Facebook parent company Meta must face lawsuits from US states that accuse it of fueling mental health problems among teenagers by making its Facebook and Instagram platforms addictive, it ruled a California federal judge on Tuesday.

Oakland-based U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Meta’s bid to throw out claims made by states in two separate lawsuits filed last year, one involving more than 30 states, including California and New York and the other presented by Florida.

Rogers placed some limits on the states’ claims, agreeing with Meta that a federal law known as Section 230 that regulates online platforms partially protected the company. However, it found that the states had presented enough details about allegedly misleading statements made by the company to move forward with the bulk of their case.

The judge also denied motions by Meta, ByteDance’s TikTok, Google’s Alphabet’s YouTube and Snap’s SnapChat to dismiss related personal injury claims by individual plaintiffs. The other companies are not accused of the states’ lawsuits.

The ruling clears the way for states and other plaintiffs to seek more evidence and potentially go to trial. It is not a final decision on the merits of their cases.

“Meta must be held accountable for the very real harm it has inflicted on children here in California and across the country,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

Attorneys for the personal injury plaintiffs in a joint statement called the ruling “a significant victory for young people across the country who have been adversely affected by addictive and harmful social media platforms.”

A Meta spokesperson says the company disagreed with the ruling overall and that it had “developed numerous tools to support parents and teens,” including new “teen accounts” on Instagram with additional protections.

A Google spokesperson said the allegations were “simply not true” and said that “providing young people with a safer and healthier experience has always been central to our work.”

The other social media companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The states are seeking injunctions against Meta’s allegedly illegal business practices and seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Several plaintiffs have filed hundreds of lawsuits accusing social media companies of designing addictive algorithms that trigger anxiety, depression and body image problems among teenagers, and of failing to warn of their risks.

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