*

Judge rejects Meta's bid to dismiss the claims

*

States seek injunction and monetary damages

(Adds statement from California Attorney General in paragraph

6, Google in paragraph 9)

By Brendan Pierson

Oct 15 (Reuters) - Facebook parent company Meta

must face lawsuits by U.S. states accusing it of fueling mental

health problems among teens by making its Facebook and Instagram

platforms addictive, a federal judge in California ruled on

Tuesday.

Oakland-based U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers

rejected Meta's bid to toss the claims made by the states in two

separate lawsuits filed last year, one involving more than 30

states including California and New York and the other brought

by Florida.

Rogers put some limits on the states' claims, agreeing with

Meta that a federal law known as Section 230 regulating online

platforms partly shielded the company. However, she found that

the states had put forward enough detail about allegedly

misleading statements made by the company to go forward with

most of their case.

The judge also rejected motions by Meta, ByteDance's TikTok,

Google parent Alphabet's YouTube and Snap's

SnapChat to dismiss related personal injury lawsuits by

individual plaintiffs. The other companies are not defendants to

the states' lawsuits.

The ruling clears the way for states and other plaintiffs to

seek more evidence and potentially go to trial. It is not a

final ruling on the merits of their cases.

"Meta needs to be held accountable for the very real harm it

has inflicted on children here in California and across the

country," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a

statement.

Lawyers for the personal injury plaintiffs in a joint

statement called the ruling "a significant victory for young

people nationwide who have been negatively impacted by addictive

and harmful social media platforms."

A Meta spokesperson says that the company disagreed with the

ruling overall and that it had "developed numerous tools to

support parents and teens," including new "Teen Accounts" on

Instagram with added protections.

A Google spokesperson called the allegations "simply not

true" and said, "providing young people with a safer, healthier

experience has always been core to our work."

The other social media companies did not immediately respond

to requests for comment.

The states are seeking court orders against Meta's allegedly

illegal business practices and are seeking unspecified monetary

damages.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by various plaintiffs

accusing the social media companies of designing addictive

algorithms that lead to anxiety, depression and body-image

issues among adolescents, and failing to warn of their risks.