Social Media Addiction Lawsuit

On this page, our mass tort lawyers will look at the social media addiction lawsuits that are currently being filed across the country. We will explain the basic fact and legal allegations being made in these cases, whether the cases have any merit, and what the potential settlement payout for these claims could be.

We are currently accepting social media addiction lawsuits across the country. If you think you have a case, call us today at 888-322-3010 or contact us online.

News & Updates

Key Ruling for Plaintiffs in MDL

The court’s latest ruling in the social media MDL is a mixed bag but largely favors plaintiffs, allowing key negligence claims to move forward. The court held that social media companies allegedly “designed their platforms to foster addiction and compulsive use by young users” and failed to implement safeguards, reinforcing that they can’t simply claim neutrality when their own features are at issue.

While the court dismissed claims under criminal child sex abuse material (CSAM) laws, citing Section 230’s civil immunity, it emphasized that “Section 230 does not protect social media companies from criminal prosecution.” The ruling also preserved wrongful death, survival, and loss of consortium claims where allowed under state law, ensuring families can still pursue damages.

It’s not a complete victory, but it keeps the case alive in significant ways. The court’s message is clear: social media platforms can be held accountable for how they design and operate their products, and they can’t escape every claim by hiding behind Section 230.

Social Media Platforms Are Addictive and Target Teens

At the core of the social media platform lawsuits is the basic fact that social media platforms are undeniably addicted. Almost everyone knows at least one person that can’t stop posting, liking, or using social media. Many people might know someone who is full-on addicted. The reality is that this is very intentional. It that is exactly why social media companies are being sued.

The fact at the heart of the social media addiction lawsuits is that teens and young adults are most vulnerable. More than 90% of teenagers in the U.S. use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, with studies estimating that the average teen spends approximately three hours per day engaging with these platforms. Among them, Instagram is one of the most popular, boasting over 57 million users under the age of 18.

Social media companies have deliberately designed their products to maximize user engagement. They achieve this by leveraging sophisticated algorithms that exploit human psychology, continuously updating and refining their platforms to encourage prolonged use.

These platforms feature user interfaces intentionally designed to capture and hold young users’ attention. The “feed” function, a common feature across most social media apps, presents an endless stream of curated content tailored to each user’s interests, making it difficult to disengage.

Teens Are Particularly Vulnerable to Social Media Addiction

Scientific research confirms that the human brain continues to develop throughout adolescence, particularly in areas responsible for risk assessment, emotional regulation, and impulse control. Since these regions are not yet fully matured, major social media platforms exploit this vulnerability through algorithms designed to keep adolescent users engaged.

When teens receive “likes” or other forms of positive feedback on social media, their brains release dopamine, creating a sense of euphoria. However, this pleasure is short-lived, as the brain quickly adapts by reducing the number of dopamine receptors being stimulated.

With typical positive experiences, the brain naturally returns to a neutral state after a brief period. However, social media algorithms take advantage of the brain’s tendency to seek repeated stimulation, encouraging users to return for another dopamine boost.

Over time, as this cycle persists for months or even years, a teen’s neurological threshold for dopamine activation increases. As a result, they continue using platforms like Facebook and Instagram, not for enjoyment, but simply to feel normal. When they attempt to reduce or quit social media, they often experience classic withdrawal symptoms similar to those seen in substance addiction, including anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and intense cravings.

Injuries Caused By Teen Addiction to Social Media

A growing body of scientific research—including internal studies conducted by social media companies themselves—has revealed that social media addiction can cause severe emotional and even physical harm to teenagers. This evidence, combined with what is now known about the deliberate strategies used to foster addiction, has become a driving force behind the social media lawsuit.

In 2018, a study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information established a clear link between time spent on social media and increased mental health issues, including depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents. The findings also indicated that excessive social media use correlated with higher rates of self-harm.

By 2021, a long-term study conducted by Brigham Young University (BYU) found that teenage girls who spent 2–3 hours per day on social media had a clinically higher risk of suicide. Even social media companies’ own research confirmed the dangers of their platforms. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook’s internal studies revealed that Instagram use contributed to significant mental health struggles among teenage girls, including suicidal thoughts and eating disorders.

Social Media Addiction Lawsuits

Over the past year, an increasing number of product liability lawsuits have been filed against Meta and other social media companies, aiming to hold them accountable for the harm caused by teen addiction to their platforms. These lawsuits, brought by teens and their parents, primarily target Meta, with most claims focusing on addiction to Instagram and Facebook.

The lawsuits argue that platforms like Facebook and Instagram were intentionally designed to be addictive, making them unreasonably dangerous for adolescent users. Additionally, they claim that social media companies were negligent in failing to warn minors and their parents about the risks of addiction and its potential consequences.

Plaintiffs in these cases are seeking compensation for severe physical and emotional injuries allegedly caused by social media addiction. Reported harms include self-mutilation, self-harm, severe eating disorders, and, in some cases, suicide.

Social Media Addiction Class Action

The social media addiction lawsuits have been getting filed across the country for the last several years. At the start of 2022, however, the litigation really started to gain momentum. This was partly due to the fact that a lot of plaintiffs lawyers began taking these cases more seriously.

The social media addiction lawsuits pending in federal courts across the country were consolidated into a new “class action” MDL (Multi-District Litigation) in August 2022. When the MDL was created, it only included 28 social media addiction lawsuits. Today, however, there are over 900 social media addiction lawsuits consolidated in the MDL.

Right now, the social media addiction lawsuits are going through a phase of consolidated discovery. Discovery is the part of a civil case in which the parties get to gather facts and evidence through depositions and written questions.

When the discovery phase is over, a handful of sample cases will be selected for bellwether test trials. The outcome of these jury trials is supposed to help facilitate settlement of the remaining cases. In reality, there is usually a settlement before we get to any test trials.

Injuries in Social Media Addiction Lawsuits

Social media platforms are intentionally designed to maximize engagement, often leading to compulsive use or addiction. Algorithms encourage prolonged screen time, which can result in neglect of daily responsibilities, academic performance, and social interactions. This can lead directly to a number of mental and physical injuries. The most common injuries related to social media addiction are listed below.

Eating Disorders

• Anorexia: Exposure to content promoting unrealistic beauty standards can contribute to anorexia, where individuals develop an intense fear of gaining weight and severely restrict food intake.
• Bulimia: Social media can reinforce body image issues, leading to cycles of binge eating followed by purging behaviors.
• Binge Eating: Emotional distress triggered by social media content can lead to compulsive overeating, often as a coping mechanism.
• Other Eating Disorders: Exposure to diet culture, body shaming, and harmful weight-loss trends online can contribute to various disordered eating behaviors.

Mental Health Disorders

• Depression: Constant social comparison, cyberbullying, and exposure to distressing content can lead to persistent sadness, hopelessness, and depressive symptoms.
• Anxiety: The fear of missing out (FOMO), social comparison, and harmful interactions online can heighten anxiety levels, particularly in adolescents.

Self-Harm & Suicide

• Suicidality: Exposure to self-harm content or online communities discussing suicide can increase suicidal thoughts, especially in vulnerable teens. This, along with child sex abuse cases, represents the most severe injuries in these lawsuits.
• Attempted Suicide: Some social media content can normalize or even glorify self-harm and suicide, influencing vulnerable users to attempt self-harm.
• Death by Suicide: Tragically, social media can play a role in some individuals’ decisions to take their own lives, particularly when cyberbullying or exposure to suicidal content is involved.
• Other Self-Harm: Many users engage in various forms of self-injury as a response to distressing social media interactions or online pressure.

Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation

• Online Predators: Social media platforms provide opportunities for predators to groom and exploit minors.
• CSAM Violations (Child Sexual Abuse Material): Some platforms have facilitated the distribution and access to illegal child sexual abuse content, contributing to severe harm.

Other Physical Injuries

• Accidents Due to Distraction: While not a primary focus of these lawsuits, injuries resulting from distraction-related accidents—such as those caused by using social media while walking or driving—highlight another indirect risk associated with excessive platform use.

These lawsuits aim to hold social media companies accountable for the significant and lasting harm their platforms have caused, particularly among vulnerable adolescent users.

Will These Cases Be Successful?

The lawsuits seeking to hold social media companies accountable for the harm caused by addiction are unique and, in many ways, unprecedented. So far, none of these cases have gone to trial or reached a settlement. Given the relatively novel legal claims involved, plaintiffs face significant challenges in proving their case.

One of the biggest hurdles in these lawsuits is establishing causation. Plaintiffs must first demonstrate, through scientific evidence, that social media addiction constitutes a legitimate physical addiction. While research has been conducted on this topic, it remains uncertain whether the findings will withstand the rigorous academic and legal scrutiny required for admissibility in court.

Even if plaintiffs successfully prove the existence of a social media addiction, they must also establish that this addiction was “more likely than not” the direct cause of the teen’s harm. In cases involving suicide or severe self-harm, this could be particularly difficult, as social media addiction is likely to be just one of multiple contributing factors.

Settlement Payouts in Social Media Addiction Lawsuits

Estimating the potential settlement payouts in social media addiction lawsuits is very premature at this point. These case new and unique cases and no social media addiction case has ever gone in front of jury. If we make various assumptions about how these cases will play out, we can provide estimates of their settlement value based on settlements in prior cases.

The social media addiction lawsuits will probably be resolved in a global settlement deal in which individual cases are ranked into tiers which determines how much compensation they get. Cases in the highest settlement tier will get most compensation. What tier a case ranks in will largely be based on the severity of the plaintiff’s injuries.

Tier 1 Settlements: $500,000 – $2 million

Cases in the top or highest value settlement tier will be those involving the most serious types of injuries. In the social media addiction cases, the most serious injury is death as a result of suicide related to the social media addiction. These cases will only account for a small percentage of overall claims, but they could have a very high potential settlement value.

Tier 2 Settlements: $180,000 – $400,000

In cases involving severe but non-fatal injuries—such as self-harm, eating disorders, or long-term mental health struggles—settlements are expected to be lower than those in wrongful death cases but could still be significant. If these lawsuits progress favorably for plaintiffs, settlement amounts may range from $180,000 to $400,000, depending on the severity and duration of the harm suffered.

Tier 3 Settlements: $20,000 to $160,000

In cases involving milder injuries, such as temporary mental health struggles or emotional distress, settlement amounts are expected to be lower. However, if plaintiffs’ attorneys successfully establish a link between social media use and these issues, settlements could range from $20,000 to $160,000, particularly when no ongoing treatment is necessary.

Example Social Media Addiction Lawsuit

In a new lawsuit filed in February 2025, a family from Richmond Hill, Georgia, has joined the social media MDL, alleging that their minor child suffered severe mental health harms due to prolonged exposure to major social media platforms. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, names Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Google as defendants, accusing them of knowingly designing their platforms to be addictive and harmful to adolescent users.

The complaint asserts that the child, who began using these platforms in 2021, developed addiction, depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, and engaged in self-harm. The plaintiffs argue that the defendants failed to warn users about the risks associated with their products, despite possessing internal research showing the harmful effects on adolescent mental health.

The lawsuit brings claims of strict liability for design defects and failure to warn, negligence, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, and violations of consumer protection laws. Additionally, the family seeks damages under wrongful death, survival action, and loss of consortium claims.

The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, arguing that the defendants prioritized engagement and profit over user safety, resulting in foreseeable and devastating harm.

Contact Us About Social Media Addiction Lawsuits

If you think you have a potential social media addiction injury lawsuit, contact our attorneys today at 800-322-3010 or reach out online for a complimentary consultation.