Meta Verdict - Why an Appeal Might Not Work

WASHINGTON - March 25, 2026 - PRLog -- Meta has announced that it will appeal a verdict holding it legally liable for being a cause of mental problems for a child who began using it while very young, but any such appeal might not be successful; and, even if successful, may do little to limit the liability of Meta and other social media platforms, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

Banzhaf, an expert in mass tort litigation - he was been called "The Law Professor Who Masterminded Litigation Against the Tobacco Industry," "a Driving Force Behind the Lawsuits That Have Cost Tobacco Companies Billions of Dollars," and a "King of Class Action Lawsuits" - says that the two major issues on which appeals are likely to be based may not work.

The argument that the companies are already fully protected by federal law [Section 230] was rejected by the trial judge since he allowed the case to go to trial.  It is also rejected by most independent legal scholars.

Professor Banzhaf, who has taught personal injury law for more than 50 years, explains that the plaintiff has managed to get around this law by not seeking to blame the content of the platform, but rather by proving it to be defectively designed and operated; i.e. a "defective product" under personal injury law.

While it may not be addictive in the clinical medical sense, it was designed to produce addictive effects somewhat like classic addictions (e.g. to heroin, cocaine, nicotine) and addictive behaviors (e.g. to gambling, sex, etc.)

The argument that the parents and other outside influences were responsible for most of the plaintiff's mental problems is also weak because an accident or injury may have several different causes.

Provided that any one cause played a substantial (i.e. not insubstantial) role is all that is required to hold each separate cause legally liable for the entire amount of damages ("joint and several liability").

Moreover, says Banzhaf, even if Meta wins by showing that there was insufficient evidence here for a jury to find that Meta played a significant or substantial role in causing the plaintiff's problems, there are already many more cases already in the pipeline - and many almost certain to be brought as a result of these three verdicts - where the outside or other influences played a much smaller role.

For all those any other reasons, it is likely that social media companies will - like cigarette and food companies - ask Congress to provide them with national immunity.  Banzhaf says he was able to defect both attempts, but that gun makers were more successful.