On Monday, August 10, 2026, a U.S. appeals court permitted thousands of lawsuits to proceed against major social media companies including Meta Platforms, Alphabet's Google, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap Inc's Snapchat. The lawsuits claim these companies designed their products to be addictive to young users.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the companies’ attempt to overturn a lower court ruling that compelled them to face more than 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal court. The court concluded that the appeal was premature, emphasizing that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides a defense to liability but does not grant immunity from lawsuits.

The defendants had argued that Section 230, which generally shields online companies from claims related to user-posted content, also bars lawsuits alleging failure to warn the public about the addictive nature of their platforms. Meta had further contended that it should be allowed to immediately appeal the lower court's decision based on broad immunity claims.

Additionally, the court denied Meta's request to postpone a trial starting Wednesday, August 13, 2026, involving a lawsuit brought by 29 state attorneys general. The lawsuit alleges that Meta illegally collected and used children’s data, engineered its social media platforms to keep young users hooked, and misled consumers about platform safety.

Earlier in March 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google negligent for designing social media platforms that harm young people and ordered Meta to pay $375 million for misleading consumers about platform safety. Both Meta and Google have denied the claims and stated they intend to appeal.

Sources