Dealing a major blow to Big Tech’s legal defenses, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled unanimously on Friday that Meta Platforms Inc. must face a state lawsuit alleging it intentionally designed Instagram to addict children and misled the public about the platform’s safety.
The ruling marks the first time a state high court has weighed in on the limits of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 in the context of social media design.
While Section 230 traditionally shields internet companies from liability for content posted by third-party users, the court found that the federal law does not provide a “blanket immunity” for a company’s own deceptive conduct or harmful product architecture.
Writing for the court, Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt clarified that the lawsuit, brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, targets Meta’s conduct rather than the content of user posts. “The claims allege harm stemming from Meta’s own conduct either by designing a social media platform that capitalizes on the developmental vulnerabilities of children or by affirmatively misleading consumers about the safety of the Instagram platform,” Wendlandt wrote.
Attorney General Campbell, a Democrat, hailed the decision as a “major victory” for youth mental health. The lawsuit alleges that features such as infinite scrolling, push notifications, and “likes” were engineered to exploit a teenager’s “fear of missing out” and psychological vulnerabilities to maximize profit.
“This is a major step in holding these companies accountable for practices that have fueled the youth mental health crisis and put profits over kids,” Campbell said in a statement.
A Meta spokesperson dismissed the court’s reasoning as a “false distinction” between content and design, emphasizing that the decision was procedural and did not address the merits of the case.
“We are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” the spokesperson said, noting that Meta has developed dozens of tools to support parental supervision and teen well-being.
Mounting Legal Pressures
The Massachusetts ruling arrives as the social media industry faces what experts call an “existential threat” from a wave of litigation. Meta is currently navigating thousands of lawsuits from individuals, school districts, and at least 34 other states.
Recent weeks have seen the financial stakes of these battles crystallize. A Los Angeles jury recently found Meta and Alphabet’s Google negligent in their platform designs, awarding $6 million to a young woman who claimed she became addicted as a child.
In New Mexico, a separate jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties for misleading users about safety and enabling child exploitation on its platforms.
The Massachusetts case gained early notoriety for highlighting internal communications involving Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The state alleges that Zuckerberg and other top executives were dismissive of internal research suggesting Instagram was harming its youngest users, choosing instead to reject safety improvements that might decrease engagement.
As the case moves toward trial, the legal community is watching closely. By narrowing the scope of Section 230 protections, the Massachusetts high court has potentially opened the door for more states to successfully challenge the addictive nature of digital products in state courts across the country.
