U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia ruled Tuesday
that the company was immune from the lawsuit under a part of the
federal Communications Decency Act that shields publishers of
others' work.
"The wisdom of conferring such immunity is something properly
taken up with Congress, not the courts," Diamond wrote.
Jeffrey Goodman, a lawyer for the girl's mother, Tawainna
Anderson, said in a statement that the family would "continue to
fight to make social media safe so that no other child is killed
by the reckless behavior of the social media industry."
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Anderson sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance
Inc in May, saying the company's algorithm showed her daughter,
Nylah Anderson, a video suggesting the blackout challenge.
In December 2021, Nylah attempted the blackout challenge using a
purse strap hung in her mother's closet, losing consciousness
and suffering severe injuries, according to the lawsuit. She was
rushed to a hospital but died five days later.
TikTok and ByteDance moved to dismiss the case, saying that
under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, they could
not be held liable for publishing third-party content. Diamond,
while saying that the circumstances were "tragic," agreed.
TikTok and other social media companies, including Facebook and
Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc and YouTube parent Alphabet
Inc, are facing a growing number of lawsuits around the country
seeking to hold them liable for causing young people to become
addicted to their products, and in some cases causing harm
including eating disorders, self-injury and suicide.
A federal judicial panel earlier this month consolidated dozens
of such cases in a new mass tort in a federal court in Oakland,
California.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan
Oatis)
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