Associate Dean Daryl Lim comments on social media addiction trial on PBS

CARLISLE, Pa.—Professor Daryl Lim, associate dean for research and strategic partnerships at Penn State Dickinson Law, was featured in a PBS NewsHour report analyzing a major “bellwether” trial testing social media companies’ potential liability for youth addiction harms. He explained how the case may shape future litigation over platform design, consumer protection, and the scope of Section 230 immunity.

Lim’s commentary highlighted a central legal question in the litigation: whether claims against platforms arise from user-generated content, where Section 230 provides a powerful shield, or from allegedly addictive product design features, such as infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendation systems, where courts may treat the conduct differently. His analysis reflects his broader scholarship and teaching on the intersection of technology, intellectual property, competition policy, and emerging regulatory frameworks governing digital platforms.

The PBS NewsHour segment, written by journalist Hannah Grabenstein, focuses on one of the first trials in a consolidated set of cases representing thousands of plaintiffs (JCCP 5255) brought against major technology companies, including Meta and Google/YouTube. Legal observers are closely watching the proceedings as an early test of how courts and juries will respond to claims of social media addiction and whether platform design choices can give rise to liability independent of protected publication activity.

Daryl Lim is the H. Laddie Montague Jr. Chair in Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is also the Associate Dean for Research & Strategic Partnerships and Founding Director of the Intellectual Property (IP) Law and Innovation Initiative. At the university level, he is a co-hire at the Institute of Computational and Data Sciences and an affiliate at the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence.

Professor Lim is an award-winning author, observer, and commentator on national and global trends in IP and competition policy and how they influence and are influenced by law, technology, economics, and politics. He helps policymakers, attorneys, corporate counsel, scholars, and the public understand the world around them. He is a founding member of the Global IP Alliance and its local chapters in Pennsylvania and Illinois. In addition, he serves as Co-Chair of the University Education Committee in the US IP Alliance.

In December 2022, the American Law Institute elected Professor Lim to its membership based on demonstrated excellence and outstanding professional achievement. In 2023, the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission recognized him as “a leading expert in antitrust law and economics” and the IAM Strategy 300, a guide to the industry pioneers with “exceptional skill sets, as well as profound insights into the development, creation, and management of IP value,” named him to its World’s Leading IP Strategists 2023 list. In 2024, he was appointed to the consultative group advising the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence. In 2025, he received the IP Professor of the Year Award at the Global Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence & Technology Conclave & Awards.