The companies behind Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube failed to completely escape hundreds of lawsuits on Friday claiming the social media platforms cause addiction and harm to children after a Los Angeles county judge shot down the companies’ legal defenses.
Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc., TikTok Inc., and Google LLC can’t invoke the First Amendment or the Communications Decency Act’s Section 230—a decades-old legal shield for online services—to block allegations that they designed their platforms to addict young people causing depression and anxiety, Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl ruled in an 89-page order.
The lawsuits advance a novel legal ...
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