US court gives green light to 3,000 lawsuits against addictive nature of social media platforms

Lawsuits filed by states, municipalities, school districts and individuals allege social media companies intentionally addicted young users, contributing to surging depression, anxiety and broader mental health crisis among American youth

Court also denied Meta's bid to postpone a trial beginning on Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by 29 state attorneys general alleging the company illegally collected and used children’s data, ​designed its social media platforms to keep young users hooked, and misled consumers about their safety.

A US appeals court allowed ​thousands of lawsuits to move forward against Meta Platforms, Alphabet's Google, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap Inc's Snapchat over claims they designed their products to be ‌addictive to young users.

The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by Meta and TikTok seeking to overturn a lower court ruling requiring them to face more than 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal court, saying the companies had appealed too early.