John B. Major

Los Angeles

Complex Civil Litigation

John Major is co-lead counsel for Snap in the nationwide social media addiction litigation now pending in federal multidistrict litigation and coordinated California proceedings, cases involving thousands of claims alleging that social media platforms caused mental health injuries to minors through product designs.

"The litigation raises unprecedented questions about the application of product liability law to online platforms and has the potential to shape how courts evaluate technology products for years to come," Major said.

He has helped lead Snap's litigation strategy, overseen expert strategy, defended depositions and contributed to briefing on dispositive motions. Major represents technology companies in complex litigation and regulatory matters, with much of his practice involving novel legal issues at the intersection of technology and the law, including product liability, Section 230, and AI and platform-related disputes.

He also advises clients on litigation and regulatory risks tied to new products and emerging technologies. He points to two Section 230 victories for Snap, Harris v. Snap and V.V. v. Meta Platforms, as matters he takes pride in. In both cases, plaintiffs sought to hold Snap liable for harms allegedly arising from third-party content or interactions on the platform. Major led the briefing and argued the motions challenging the complaints, and the courts in each case agreed that Section 230 barred the claims.

"These decisions addressed difficult and developing questions at the intersection of technology, free speech and product liability," he said. Major described the central challenge in these matters as the absence of a roadmap. "Courts are being asked to apply statutes and tort doctrines developed in a different technological era to algorithms, platform features and digital interactions," he said.

That requires understanding how the technology works, separating the label placed on a claim from its underlying theory, and explaining how legal principles apply without oversimplifying either the law or the facts. In the Snap litigation, Major said, that challenge multiplies with the scale of the proceedings, the number of claims and the breadth of the expert issues.

Major was drawn to the practice first by the people he worked with, including Jonathan Blavin, Brad Brian, Dan Levin and Martin Estrada, and then by the problems those lawyers tackled.

"I wanted to keep working with lawyers whose judgment and standards I admired," Major said. He credits Munger, Tolles & Olson colleagues, including Hailyn Chen and Bethany Kristovich, with teaching him to press his thinking, refine his writing and sharpen his arguments until they are as strong as they can be.

Looking at trends in his field, Major sees courts continuing efforts to apply traditional legal doctrines to emerging technologies, from social media platforms to AI tools, often without precedent to guide them. He also sees AI reshaping the practice itself, drawing scrutiny from regulators and litigants while becoming a tool lawyers use in research, discovery and case strategy.