Published
March 9, 2026
Updated
July 14, 2026
Attorneys are still accepting new social media addiction cases for children harmed on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or YouTube — here is where the 2026 trials and settlements stand and how to see if your family qualifies.
Status: Active — Cases Being Accepted Now
Payout: Varies
Can I Still File a Social Media Addiction Claim for My Child?
Yes. Attorneys are still accepting new cases right now. If your child is under 18, uses social media excessively, and developed serious mental health problems — such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts — you may qualify to file a claim. There is no upfront cost. Attorneys handle these cases on a contingency basis, meaning they only get paid if you receive money.See If You Qualify — Free Evaluation
What Is Happening Right Now? (2026 Update)
The social media addiction lawsuits are in the most significant phase yet. Here is what has happened in the last few months:In January 2026, the first-ever social media addiction bellwether trial began in Los Angeles Superior Court. The case involves a 19-year-old woman identified as K.G.M. who alleges that prolonged use of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat during her adolescence caused severe depression and suicidal thoughts. The trial ran for about two months in early 2026.
Before the trial even started, two defendants settled. Snapchat (Snap Inc.) settled on January 20, 2026, and TikTok (ByteDance) settled on January 27, 2026. The settlement amounts were not disclosed, and neither company admitted wrongdoing. Both were removed from the trial.
During the trial, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand in February 2026 and was questioned about whether Instagram was deliberately designed to be addictive to children. He testified that Meta no longer sets goals to maximize screen time and that research does not conclusively prove social media causes mental health harm. The plaintiffs' attorneys challenged this position with internal company documents and expert testimony.
On March 25, 2026, the jury returned a verdict, finding Meta and YouTube negligent and awarding the plaintiff $6 million — $3 million in compensatory and $3 million in punitive damages — the first jury verdict in a social media addiction case. In early June 2026, Judge Carolyn Kuhl denied Meta's and Google's post-trial motions to overturn the verdict or grant a new trial, leaving the jury's findings and the award intact. Meta then filed a notice of appeal on or about July 7, 2026, and Google has indicated it will appeal as well, so the verdict is now on appeal and not final. It remains a California state-court result in one plaintiff's case and does not bind the thousands of other pending cases. See our full breakdown of the March 2026 verdict for details.
In the federal MDL, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had set the first two federal bellwether trials for mid-2026, both involving school-district claims. The first — brought by Breathitt County, Kentucky — settled for a combined $27 million in May 2026 before trial, and the next school-district bellwethers (Tucson Unified and Charleston County) are now set for February 2027. Individual personal injury trials are expected to follow. As of 2026, there are at least 2,325 pending cases in the MDL.
The same federal court is also about to host a major enforcement trial. A coalition of state attorneys general — California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey — is set to take Meta to trial in Oakland in August 2026 (jury selection August 12, opening statements August 18) over claims that Instagram and Facebook were designed to addict and harm young users. In a July 7, 2026 court filing, Meta disclosed that the states are seeking up to roughly $1.4 trillion in statutory penalties; Meta called that figure unsupported and said it has no precedent in consumer-protection enforcement. Judge Gonzalez Rogers has indicated she will use an advisory jury on the state consumer-protection claims and decide the federal children's-privacy (COPPA) claim herself. These are allegations the court has not yet ruled on.
Two Parallel Tracks: JCCP 5255 (California State) and MDL 3047 (Federal)
Social media addiction cases are being heard in two coordinated proceedings at once, which is why the same facts can show up in different courtrooms. Understanding which track a case lives on helps explain why the K.G.M. bellwether ran in Los Angeles Superior Court while the next bellwethers run in federal court in Oakland.JCCP 5255 is California’s state-court coordinated proceeding, titled “Social Media Cases.” It consolidates personal-injury claims filed across California counties in front of one judge for pretrial work, then returns them to their home counties for trial. The K.G.M. bellwether was a JCCP 5255 case. A second JCCP bellwether — the R.K.C. case, involving a teenage plaintiff — is set for trial on July 27, 2026; YouTube (Google) and TikTok reached confidential settlements ahead of that trial, leaving Meta and Snap as the remaining defendants.
MDL 3047 is the federal multidistrict litigation — “In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation” — pending in the Northern District of California before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland. The MDL also houses the school-district claims on a separate track, and it is where the federal school-district bellwethers are being tried. After Breathitt County settled in May 2026, the next federal bellwethers (Tucson Unified and Charleston County) are set for early 2027.
Claims can be filed into either track depending on where the plaintiff lives and where the defendants have sufficient contacts. Families filing new claims today are typically routed through one of these two proceedings.
Which Social Media Companies Are Being Sued?
The lawsuits target the largest social media platforms used by children and teenagers:• Meta (Instagram and Facebook) — still in active litigation, no settlement
• TikTok (ByteDance) — settled January 27, 2026 in the K.G.M. bellwether case (amount undisclosed). This settlement resolved the specific case at trial and does not necessarily cover all future claims against TikTok.
• Snapchat (Snap Inc.) — settled January 20, 2026 in the K.G.M. bellwether case (amount undisclosed). As with TikTok, this settlement applied to the case in question and does not necessarily cover all future claims against Snapchat.
• YouTube (Google / Alphabet) — still in active litigation, no settlement
• Discord — facing separate lawsuits over child safety
• Roblox — facing lawsuits over child exploitation and addictive design
Do I Qualify to File a Lawsuit?
You may qualify if your child was under 18 during a period of heavy social media use and developed any of the following conditions that you believe were caused or worsened by social media:• Suicide or suicide attempt
• Suicidal ideation (thoughts of suicide)
• Body dysmorphia
• Self-harm (cutting, burning, or other self-injury)
• Sexual abuse facilitated through a social media platform
• Eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia, binge eating)
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Drug overdose
The platforms covered include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
To qualify for a claim, attorneys will expect a formal diagnosis or treatment for the injury resulting from the social media usage.
You do not need to already have a lawyer. The free evaluation will determine if your case qualifies and connect you with an experienced attorney if it does.
See If You Qualify — Free Evaluation
How Much Money Could I Get?
There is no fixed settlement amount because these are individual lawsuits, not a single class action with a set fund. The amount of compensation a claimant may receive is currently unknown and will depend on a number of factors, including the specifics of each individual case. The TikTok and Snapchat settlements in January 2026 did not disclose amounts. As more trials and settlements occur, more information about potential compensation will become available.How Do I File? What Does the Evaluation Ask?
The free evaluation is a short 11-question survey. It takes just a few minutes. Here is exactly what it will ask you so there are no surprises:Question 1 asks what harm you believe social media caused for your child. You select one from a dropdown list: Suicide / Suicide Attempt, Suicidal Ideation, Body Dysmorphia, Self Harm, Sexual Abuse, Eating Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, Drug Overdose, or None of the Above.
Question 2 asks whether your child has received a diagnosis or treatment (Yes or No).
Question 3 asks which social media platform was primarily involved. You select one: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, or Other.
The remaining questions collect basic information like your child's age, when the social media use began, and your contact details so an attorney can follow up if you qualify.
After you complete the survey, if your answers indicate you may have a case, you will be contacted for a free consultation with an intake specialist to see if your child might qualify to file a social media addiction lawsuit. There is no cost for the evaluation or the consultation. Attorneys work on a contingency basis — they only get paid a percentage of what you recover. If you do not win, you owe nothing.
Start the Free 11-Question Evaluation
Why Are These Lawsuits Happening?
The lawsuits allege that social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children and teenagers, knowing the harm it would cause. Internal documents from Meta, TikTok, and other companies allegedly show that executives were aware their platforms were causing mental health harm to young users but chose to prioritize engagement and advertising revenue over safety.The platforms allegedly used features specifically designed to exploit developing adolescent brains, including infinite scrolling that makes it impossible to find a natural stopping point, algorithmic content feeds that serve increasingly extreme or harmful content to keep users engaged, notification systems designed to trigger dopamine responses and pull users back to the app, likes and follower counts that create social validation loops and peer pressure, and disappearing messages and stories that create urgency and fear of missing out.
A landmark court ruling by Judge Carolyn Kuhl determined that these design features are "product designs" rather than protected speech, meaning a jury can decide whether they are inherently dangerous to developing brains. This ruling effectively removed the companies' longstanding Section 230 defense that had previously shielded them from liability.
What Mental Health Harms Are Linked to Social Media Addiction?
Scientific research and the lawsuits themselves link prolonged social media use in minors to severe depression and anxiety, eating disorders and body dysmorphia (especially from exposure to filtered and curated images on Instagram and TikTok), self-harm including cutting and other self-injurious behaviors, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, sleep disorders and insomnia from late-night scrolling, attention problems and declining academic performance, social isolation despite appearing "connected" online, and in the most tragic cases, death from suicide or dangerous viral challenges like the TikTok "blackout challenge."The American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Surgeon General have all issued warnings about the impact of social media on adolescent mental health.
Is There a Deadline to File?
There is no single class action claim form deadline because these are individual lawsuits consolidated into a Multi-District Litigation (MDL), not a traditional class action settlement with one claim form. However, every state has a statute of limitations — a legal deadline after which you can no longer file a claim. These deadlines vary by state and by the type of harm. An attorney can determine whether a claim is still within the applicable time limit, and the free evaluation can help clarify whether a claim is still within the window.See If You Qualify — Free Evaluation
Key Dates and Timeline
January 20, 2026: Snapchat (Snap Inc.) settles in K.G.M. bellwether trial
January 27, 2026: TikTok (ByteDance) settles in K.G.M. bellwether trial
January-March 2026: First bellwether trial held in LA Superior Court (K.G.M. v. Meta et al.) — Meta and YouTube remained as defendants
February 2026: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at trial
March 25, 2026: Jury finds Meta and YouTube negligent and awards $6 million — the first social media addiction verdict (state court; subject to appeal)
May 21, 2026: First federal bellwether (Breathitt County, KY) settles for a combined $27 million before trial
Early June 2026: Judge Kuhl denies Meta's and Google's post-trial motions to overturn the K.G.M. verdict, leaving it intact
July 7, 2026: Meta files a notice of appeal of the K.G.M. verdict (Google to appeal as well) — the verdict is now on appeal
July 27, 2026: Second California (JCCP) bellwether, the R.K.C. case, set for trial — Meta and Snap remaining after YouTube and TikTok settle
August 12–18, 2026: State attorneys general (California, Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey) enforcement trial against Meta begins in Oakland — jury selection August 12, opening statements August 18; states seek up to ~$1.4 trillion in penalties, which Meta disputes
February 2027: Next federal school-district bellwethers (Tucson Unified, Charleston County) set for trial
Case Information
Federal MDL: In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, MDL-3047 (N.D. Cal.)
Federal Judge: Hon. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
State Cases: JCCP 5255 (California Superior Court, Los Angeles)
Pending Claims: At least 2,325 as of March 2026
Defendants: Meta Platforms (Instagram, Facebook), ByteDance (TikTok), Snap Inc. (Snapchat), Alphabet (YouTube), and others
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Sources
• The Free Speech Center / AP — TikTok Settles as Social Media Giants Face Landmark Trial (Jan 2026)• Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers — TikTok Settles Landmark Social Media Addiction Lawsuit (Feb 2026)
• Addiction Center — Landmark Trial Challenges Platforms Over Child Harm (Feb 2026)
• NBC News — Jury Reaches Verdict in Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial (Mar 2026)
• Engadget — Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube Settle Kentucky School Social Media Suit (May 2026)
• Insurance Journal via Reuters — Meta Says States Seek Up to $1.4 Trillion in Social Media Addiction Trial (July 7, 2026)
• Associated Press via Las Vegas Sun — Meta Appeals Landmark Social Media Addiction Verdict After Post-Trial Motions Denied (July 10, 2026)
Filing Class Action Settlement Claims
Please note that your claim form will be rejected if you submit a settlement claim with any fraudulent information. By providing this information and your sworn statement of its veracity, you agree to do so under the penalty of perjury. If you are not sure whether you qualify, visit the class action administrator's website. OpenClassActions.com is a consumer advocacy and class action news site, and is not a class action administrator or a law firm. OpenClassActions is a participant in the Amazon affiliate advertising program and this post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission or fees if you make a purchase via those links.
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