Google, Meta And Social Media Ilk Must Address Teen Addiction Allegations, Judge Says

A federal judge denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against social media companies.

Companies in the hot seat could include Meta META, which owns Facebook, as well as ByteDance‘s Tik Tok and Snap Inc SNAP.

What Happened: Meta and Google parent, Alphabet GOOGL are among the services that had hoped to have a lawsuit dismissed under Section 230 of the First Amendment, known as the Communications Decency Act.

Judge Gonzalez Rogers said that the law does not adequately cover allegations of violation of children’s privacy, parental controls and the speech and actions of other users.

Last month, Meta received lawsuits from several states accusing it of harming the mental health of young users by designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to it.

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Why It Matters: The ruling could open up a wave of similar lawsuits from plaintiffs claiming that social media is creating a mental health crisis in the U.S.

The lead attorneys for the current consumer plaintiffs issued a statement that said Tuesday’s ruling was a “significant victory for the families that have been harmed by the dangers of social media.

“The mental health crisis among American youth is a direct result of these defendants' intentional design of harmful product features.”

Google issued a statement in its defense that said: Protecting kids across our platforms has always been core to our work.

“In collaboration with child development specialists, we have built age-appropriate experiences for kids and families on YouTube, and provide parents with robust controls. The allegations in these complaints are simply not true.”

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