MA: Section 230 Immunity Not Applicable to Allegations of Platform Design to Create Compulsive Use by Children

Commonwealth v. Meta Platforms, Inc., 497 Mass. 384, 386, 404, 409, 277 N.E.3d 166, 170, 183, 187 (2026) (upholding denial of motion to dismiss both statutory unfair trade practices act and public nuisance claims because of immunity created by §230 of Communications Decency Act where Commonwealth alleged that defendant had “design[ed] the Instagram platform to induce compulsive use by children, engaged in deceptive business practices by deliberately misleading the public about the safety of the platform, and created a public nuisance by engaging in these . . . practices. . . . [W]here the service provider created, in whole or in part, the content from which the alleged harm flows, it is not protected by §230(c)(1) . . . [T]he published information itself is not the source of the harm alleged. Instead, the claim alleges that the features themselves induce compulsive use independent of the content provided by third-party users.”).