A recent decree could lead to more court time for three embattled Big Tech firms. In the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that a group of lawsuits filed by school districts against TikTok, Google, and Meta can move forward.
According to Bloomberg, Rogers backed more than 150 cases filed by school districts, all of which concern the effect social media algorithms may have on the youth mental health crisis. For years, scholastic authorities have argued that tech platforms are liable for the harmful content their recommendation algorithms serve to teenage viewers.
The standard defense against those allegations invokes Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. That’s the title of a legal doctrine that provides “safe harbor” to platforms. As long as they act quickly to deal with violative content, they are exempt from legal liability. A ruling earlier this year supported platforms’ Section 230 rights, reinforcing a Supreme Court precedent and seemingly shielding them from prosecution in 600 cases related to addictive algorithms.
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But elsewhere in the legal world, there are questions about how and when Section 230 can be applied to algorithmic recommendations. A pivotal decision in August 2024 determined that TikTok will have to face a lawsuit brought by the mother of a child who died after attempting the dangerous “blackout challenge.” That ruling built on a Supreme Court decision that defined recommendation algorithms as “editorial judgements” that may not qualify for Section 230 protections.
Judge Rogers ruled that some of the claims brought before her are invalid due to Section 230, but others should be allowed to move forward. Rogers said that TikTok, Google, and Meta “deliberately fostered compulsive use of their platforms which foreseeably caused” school districts to expend resources on mental health services for students.
The outcomes of these cases are far from certain, but if the courts continue to strip away Section 230’s authority in the realm of algorithms, the ramifications for social media industry would be massive. Who knows — maybe this time next year the U.S. will be getting depersonalized algorithms to match the ones they have in Europe.
