Judge refuses to dismiss state AGs' Meta child addiction lawsuit

Key Points:

• Meta's attempt to dismiss a lawsuit from 34 state attorneys general accusing it of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children and hiding the harm was rejected by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
• The judge allowed claims based on deception, unfairness, and violations of the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to proceed, awarding summary judgment to the states on COPPA's notice and parental consent requirements.
• Section 230 protections shielded Meta from liability for certain features like infinite scroll and autoplay, but other features such as appearance-altering filters and time-capping tools were not protected and remain subject to the lawsuit.
• The failure-to-warn claims against Meta survived, with the judge citing evolving case law as a reason to keep these allegations active.
• Meta expressed disagreement with the ruling but highlighted its development of parental and teen support tools, while California Attorney General Rob Bonta emphasized the need to hold Meta accountable for harm to children.