INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Section 230 has so far failed to shield Meta and TikTok owner ByteDance from a lawsuit raised by a mother who alleged that her son's
wrongful death followed a flood of "subway surfing" videos platforms intentionally targeted to teens in New York.In a decision Monday, New
York State Supreme Court Judge Paul Goetz largely denied social media companies' motions to dismiss claims they argued should be barred
under Section 230 and the First Amendment
Goetz said that the mother, Norma Nazario, had adequately alleged that subway surfing content "was purposefully fed" to her son Zackery
"because of his age" and "not because of any user inputs that indicated he was interested in seeing such content."Unlike other Section 230
cases in which platforms' algorithms were determined to be content-neutral, Goetz wrote that in this case, "it is plausible that the social
most impacted by the content."Moving forward, Nazario will have a chance to seek discovery that could show exactly how Zackery came to
interact with the subway surfing content
In her complaint, she did not ask for the removal of all subway surfing content but rather wants to see platforms held accountable for
allegedly dangerous design choices that supposedly target unwitting teens."Social media defendants should not be permitted to actively
target young users of its applications with dangerous 'challenges' before the user gives any indication that they are specifically
interested in such content and without warning," Nazario has argued.And if she's proven right, that means platforms won't be forced to
censor any content but must instead update algorithms to stop sending "dangerous" challenges to keep teens engaged at a time when they're
more likely to make reckless decisions, Goetz suggested.
