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Publisher with 25m Facebook followers loses key claim over Meta's 2020 shutdown

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The Ninth Circuit affirmed that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields Meta from liability for removing third-party publisher accounts. Before the October 2020 termination, Shared had submitted more than 500,000 advertisements, but Meta flagged over 18,000 of them for featuring adult content, deceptive claims, and sensational material. Although Shared claimed Meta failed to provide adequate feedback to correct problematic submissions, the court determined that the removal fell within protected publisher functions.

Key points

  • Section 230 protects social media companies when they permanently remove accounts for vio…: Section 230 protects social media companies when they permanently remove accounts for violating platform policies.
  • Framing an account termination as a conversion claim or contractual breach does not bypas…: Framing an account termination as a conversion claim or contractual breach does not bypass federal publisher immunity.
  • Platforms are not legally obligated to provide customized editorial guidance before shutt…: Platforms are not legally obligated to provide customized editorial guidance before shutting down repeat policy offenders.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Losing access to a social media account can mean losing years of work, an established audience and an important source of business. That was the situation faced by a Canadian online publisher whose Facebook pages once attracted around 25 million followers. The company had submitted more than 500,000 advertisements to Meta over the years, but thousands were rejected for violating advertising policies. In October 2020, Meta permanently shut down its Facebook pages, ending a relationship that had lasted more than a decade. The publisher took the company to court, arguing that the closure had interfered with its business and property rights.

In a ruling dated October 30, 2026, in Shared Partnership v. Meta Platforms, Inc. (No. 25-2612), the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of the publisher's conversion claim. According to the

judgment available on the Ninth Circuit's website, the three-judge panel found that Meta was protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act because removing the company's Facebook pages was part of its role as a publisher. The court also rejected the argument…

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