A US district judge dismissed Mark Zuckerberg as an individual defendant in around two dozen lawsuits accusing Meta Platforms and other social media companies of addicting children to their products.
The lawsuits alleged Zuckerberg was warned Instagram and Facebook weren’t safe for kids but ignored the findings.
However, the judge ruled Zuckerberg wasn’t required to disclose safety information without a special relationship with users, and being the public face of Meta alone wasn’t grounds for liability.
Plaintiffs can amend their complaints but Zuckerberg won’t face personal liability.
Their lawyers said they will continue pursuing claims that Zuckerberg concealed information as a corporate officer.
“We will not relent until Mr. Zuckerberg is held accountable for his actions,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers stated.
It was a small subset of over 1,000 suits against Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap regarding keeping young users safe.
The companies deny wrongdoing while the judge allowed some claims against the firms to proceed.