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A Massachusetts Superior Court judge has ruled that Meta must face a lawsuit from the state, accusing the company of intentionally designing harmful features for young users on its platform.

Let’s bring you up to speed: Earlier this year, Massachusetts, along with other states, filed a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of deliberately designing features that harm the mental health and well-being of young users. The suit claims Meta created addictive tools targeting children and teens, prioritizing profit over safety. The lawsuit also alleges that Meta misled the public about the safety of its platforms, ignored internal evidence of their harmful effects on mental health and addiction, and highlights decisions, including by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to block proposed safety improvements for young users.

What happened today: After attempts by Meta to have the lawsuit dismissed over claims that it was protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the First Amendment, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge ruled that the case would proceed. Meta argued that Section 230 shielded the company from liability for user content and that the lawsuit violated its free speech rights. However, Judge Peter Krupp ruled that Section 230 didn’t apply because the lawsuit targets Meta’s business practices and safety misrepresentations, not user content. He also rejected the First Amendment defense, stating the case is about Meta’s conduct and product design, not protected speech.

Meta reacts: In a statement, a spokeswoman for Meta said they disagreed with the ruling. The spokeswoman added, “We’ve developed numerous tools to support parents and teens, and we recently announced that we’re significantly changing the Instagram experience for tens of millions of teens with new Teen Accounts, a protected experience for teens that automatically limits who can contact them and the content they see. We believe the evidence will demonstrate our commitment to supporting young people.”