SAN FRANCISCO, United States: Meta social media lawsuits involving thousands of claims can proceed after a federal appeals court dismissed Meta and TikTok’s premature Section 230 appeals on Monday.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides a defence against liability rather than immunity from being sued.
The distinction meant the court lacked jurisdiction to review the companies’ challenges before final judgments, Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen wrote in the August 10 opinion.
The ruling did not determine whether Meta Platforms or ByteDance-owned TikTok was liable. It also did not eliminate Section 230 as a possible defence after the underlying cases conclude.
The appellate court noted that US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had already found Section 230 barred some claims involving platform features tied to publishing third-party content. Other claims were allowed to continue at the current stage.
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The centralised federal litigation contains thousands of lawsuits alleging that Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms used product features that encouraged compulsive use by minors, weakened parental controls or failed to verify users’ ages. Those assertions remain allegations.
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The panel also rejected Meta’s emergency request to halt a multistate trial as moot. Jury selection is scheduled for August 12 in Oakland, California, with opening statements on August 18, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.
Meta declined to comment to Reuters. TikTok did not immediately respond to the news agency’s request for comment.
