s4story -- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled that Meta Platforms, ByteDances Tiktok, and other social media outlets would have to defend themselves against thousand of lawsuit because Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not shield social media from claims that their propensity to addict children and other users creates an unacceptable and therefore illegal danger of harm.

This is exactly what was predicted months ago by the law professor who has been called  "The Law Professor Who Masterminded Litigation Against the Tobacco Industry" and a "Driving Force Behind the Lawsuits That Have Cost Tobacco Companies Billions of Dollars," and who brought the law suit which led to the ruling that nicotine was addictive:
Lawsuits may force Meta to redesign Instagram - Mark Zuckerberg's tech giant may also have to follow the example of big tobacco and ask Congress for immunity from legal action, an expert says (Banzhaf - "There's almost certainly going to be a vast avalanche of our lawsuits. In the tobacco cases, you only had a limited number of potential plaintiffs").

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The social media addiction lawsuits are being compared to the highly successful litigation against cigarette makers who likewise denied that their product was addictive, and thought that the Surgeon General's warning likewise protected them from liability.

But the law professor points out that plaintiffs in the tobacco cases used clever pleading and tactics to overcome the presumed immunity, and it looks like they are doing the same with regard to social media companies.

However, Prof Banzhaf notes out that the concept of addiction is complicated, and that there are important differences between addiction to nicotine in cigarettes and addiction involving social media.

Many commentator have likened the "addiction" civil trials against social media companies to the very successful civil trials against tobacco companies, but there are important differences which the public should bear in mind, says the law professor who played a major role not only in suing cigarette manufactures, but also in the formal determination that nicotine was addictive and caused addiction in many if not most of its users.

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One key issue in a trial in which Meta (Instagram) and YouTube were accused of addicting children by creating "a digital drug" or "digital casinos" is whether social media websites - and, by extension, other non-substances - can cause a true addiction, or whether the defendants simply use techniques designed to create intense gratification to increase usage and therefore profits.

Many commentators, including many who lack any significant background, compare the litigation to the very successful lawsuits against major cigarette companies in which the defendants likewise denied that their product was addictive. . . .

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