A federal appeals court has dismissed a child labor case which sought to hold Big Tech accountable for the abuse of young children forced to work in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Companies including Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Google rely on cobalt to make the rechargeable lithium batteries used in their products, but have argued they merely have a “buyer-seller relationship” with cobalt suppliers and have no power to stop child labor. The two companies named in the lawsuit are U.K.-based Glencore and Chinese company Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao acknowledged the tech giants are aware of the child exploitation and that they “intentionally use a murky supply chain to obscure the extent to which they rely on forced labor.” The group International Rights Advocates, which brought the lawsuit, says it is considering an appeal.