A federal appeals court issued a ruling on Monday that clears the way for thousands of lawsuits against major social media companies, including Meta Platforms and ByteDance’s TikTok, to proceed. The plaintiffs in these cases allege that these platforms are intentionally designed to be addictive and that they have caused significant harm to young people. The tech companies involved had sought to have these cases dismissed, arguing that they should be protected from such litigation, but the court’s decision denies those appeals.

This ruling marks a significant development in a years-long legal battle between tech giants and families or school districts who claim that social media features—such as infinite scrolling and notification algorithms—are responsible for mental health issues in minors. While the companies have consistently argued that their platforms are not responsible for how users interact with them and that they have implemented safety tools, the court has now determined that the legal claims are sufficient to continue toward trial. The litigation remains ongoing, and the companies are expected to continue their defense as the cases move into the next phase of the judicial process. Meta has recently taken steps to manage the public perception of this litigation, including removing certain advertisements related to social media addiction lawsuits from its platform.