In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation

Children, school districts, and state attorneys general (collectively, the minors) (plaintiffs) sued five major social-media companies—Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat (collectively, the companies) (defendants)—in federal district court. The minors asserted multiple claims, including products-liability claims alleging that the platforms were defectively designed and harmed young users. The minors alleged that the companies intentionally designed addictive features to exploit young users’ underdeveloped impulse control and increase advertising revenue. These features included endless scrolling, algorithm-driven recommendations, and constant notifications. The platforms also allegedly lacked meaningful age-verification processes, parental controls, and time-limitation options. Further, the minors claimed that the apps’ content filters distorted reality and that reporting mechanisms for child-sexual-abuse materials or predators were too limited. According to the minors, the companies’ design choices caused significant harm to young users, including mental-health issues and sexual exploitation. The companies moved to dismiss the products-liability claims, arguing that (1) social-media platforms were services, not products, and (2) any harm stemmed from user-generated content, for which the companies were not liable. The court dismissed claims tied to expressing content or ideas as protected by the First Amendment or § 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The court then evaluated nine remaining allegedly defective design features, including the apps’ mechanisms for parental control, verifying a user’s age, time limits, account deletion, content filters, labeling filtered or edited content, and reporting suspected child-sexual-abuse material or predators.