Appeals Court Blocks Meta, Google, TikTok's Bid to Cut Short Social Media Liability Fight

A US appeals court has denied Meta, Google, and TikTok's bid to cut short one of the largest product liability fights in the country.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the social media companies cannot yet appeal a lower court's decision forcing them to face a multidistrict litigation over claims their platforms were engineered to hook young users.

The case, which has been consolidated before US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland as In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3047), is moving toward trial instead of freezing while an appeals court works through the legal theory.

The ruling also declines to pause a separate trial that opened this week in California, brought by attorneys general from 29 states, alleging Meta illegally collected children's data, built its platforms to maximize compulsive use, and misled the public about the risks.

A parallel state-court proceeding in California is running alongside the federal cases, with roughly 3,300 additional claims of its own.