9th Circuit rejects Meta, TikTok immunity claim, trial to proceed
A federal appeals panel ruled that Section 230 offers a defense, not immunity, allowing a $1.4 trillion state-attorney-general lawsuit against Meta to go to trial in August.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied Meta Platforms and TikTok’s attempt to halt a multi-state lawsuit alleging social-media addiction, stating that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides only a defense to liability, not blanket immunity from suit. The decision, issued on Thursday, dismissed the companies’ appeals and left a district-court trial scheduled to begin with jury selection on August 12 and the trial itself on August 19.
The case, brought by the California attorney general and several other state attorneys general, seeks more than $1.4 trillion in damages for alleged deceptive practices and design choices that encourage compulsive use of Facebook and Instagram. The states argue that Meta misled the public about platform safety while deliberately engineering features to increase user engagement and revenue.
"Meta’s concern over the potential size of the requested remedies rings hollow in light of the evidence the AGs will present at trial," the attorneys general wrote in a filing.
The ruling also affects related consumer-protection claims from Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey and dozens of other states, as well as lawsuits from local governments, school districts, and individuals alleging violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and personal-injury harms.
District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had previously denied Meta’s motion to dismiss most claims, allowing the litigation to continue on theories such as failure-to-warn about addiction risks. The Ninth Circuit noted that while some courts have loosely described Section 230 as granting “immunity,” the law does not expressly bar trials, and only the Tenth Circuit has directly addressed the collateral-order issue, concluding that denial of a Section 230 defense can be reviewed after a final judgment.
Separate proceedings in New Mexico have already resulted in judgments ordering Meta to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for youth mental-health services and civil penalties, underscoring the broader legal exposure of major social-media platforms.