Signal Ninth Circuit allows thousands of social media addiction lawsuits against Meta, Google, TikTok, Snap to proceed

Summary

On August 10, 2026, the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Meta Platforms, Google (Alphabet), TikTok (ByteDance), and Snapchat (Snap) must face more than 3,000 lawsuits alleging their platforms were designed to addict young users. The court rejected the companies' appeal seeking to halt the multidistrict litigation, finding the appeal came too early in the proceedings. The underlying suits allege the platforms used addictive design features to harm young users' mental health. At least 20 U.S. states have already enacted laws addressing youth social media use, many of which face their own legal challenges. During the 2026 legislative session, at least 40 states and Puerto Rico considered more than 300 measures related to children and social media, with 10 states enacting new laws or resolutions. This ruling is distinct from a separate New Mexico state court order issued August 6, 2026 (outside this scan window) that fined Meta an additional $567 million.