Massachusetts can sue Meta

Massachusetts’ highest court said on April 10 that the state can keep suing Meta over claims Instagram was built to hook children. (mass.gov) The ruling came from the Supreme Judicial Court in *Commonwealth v. Meta Platforms, Inc.*, a case Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell filed in Suffolk Superior Court on October 24, 2023. The court said Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not block claims aimed at Meta’s own product design and safety statements. (mass.gov) Section 230 is the federal law that usually shields internet companies from liability for content posted by users. The justices said that shield applies to harms from user-generated content, not to allegations that Meta itself designed Instagram to drive compulsive use by minors. (mass.gov) Massachusetts says Instagram features such as push notifications, “likes,” and endless scrolling were designed to exploit teenagers’ fear of missing out and keep them on the app longer. The state also says Meta misled the public about Instagram’s safety, its protections for young users, and its age-verification systems for children under 13. (usnews.com) (mass.gov) The decision gives state lawyers room to press a theory that social media cases can turn on how a platform is engineered, not just on what users post there. The opinion said claims that would treat Meta “as the publisher” of third-party content are barred, but the complaint here targets Meta’s own conduct. (mass.gov) That distinction has been central in a widening wave of cases against Meta since 2023. Reuters reported that at least nine state attorneys general have pursued similar claims in state court, while 34 other states are also suing Meta in federal court. (usnews.com) The Massachusetts case also arrived after two recent jury setbacks for Meta. On March 25, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Alphabet’s Google negligent in a case brought by a 20-year-old woman and awarded $6 million, and a day earlier another jury awarded New Mexico $375 million in a case over child safety and alleged deception. (usnews.com) Meta has denied the allegations and said it has taken extensive steps to protect teens and other young users on its platforms. Advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center, which backed Massachusetts in court, argued the case is about product choices that could be changed without policing user speech. (usnews.com) (epic.org) The case now returns to the trial court, where Massachusetts can try to prove Instagram’s design and Meta’s public statements broke state consumer-protection law and created a public nuisance. (mass.gov)