Social media platforms still facing thousands of user addiction lawsuits after failed appeals

社交媒体平台在上诉失败后仍面临数千起用户成瘾诉讼

Social media companies like Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google are facing a long road of litigation over claims that they intentionally designed their products to be addictive to minors. Meta、TikTok、Snapchat 和 Google 等社交媒体公司正面临漫长的诉讼之路，原因是有指控称它们蓄意将产品设计成令未成年人上瘾的形式。

According to a report from Reuters, San Francisco’s 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied these platforms’ attempt to defend themselves from thousands of lawsuits through an argument based on Section 230, which protects publishers and platforms from being held liable for users’ posts. 据路透社报道，旧金山美国第九巡回上诉法院驳回了这些平台试图利用《通信规范法》第 230 条（Section 230）为自己辩护的请求。该条款旨在保护出版商和平台免于对用户发布的内容承担法律责任。

The companies argued that Section 230 could also protect them from the claim that they did not warn the public about addictive design choices, but the court said the appeal may have come too soon, since this type of appeal usually arrives after a trial. 这些公司辩称，第 230 条也应保护它们免受“未就成瘾性设计向公众发出警告”的指控，但法院表示，这一上诉可能为时过早，因为此类上诉通常是在审判结束后才会进行。

These thousands of lawsuits, which come from private individuals, state and local governments, and school districts, were consolidated into one federal suit and will proceed as such. 这些来自个人、州和地方政府以及学区的数千起诉讼已被合并为一起联邦诉讼，并将以此形式继续推进。

It’s too early to say how these addictive design lawsuits will pan out, but so far, Meta lost two lawsuits over similar issues, marking the first time that the platform was held liable over child safety concerns in jury trials. 现在断言这些成瘾性设计诉讼的结果还为时尚早，但到目前为止，Meta 已在两起类似案件中败诉，这是该平台首次在陪审团审判中因儿童安全问题被裁定承担责任。