It’s Time to Take the Gloves Off with the Social Media Addiction Lawsuit.

The Horror Stories Parents Tell Us Are Keeping Us Up at Night.

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Social Media
Addiction Lawsuit

If your child suffered from serious mental health issues or physical harm after scrolling too much on social media (we’re talking depression/anxiety all the way up to eating disorders, trafficking, and even suicide), please contact us for a free and private legal consult.

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Landmark $3 Million Social Media Addiction Verdict Reached Against Meta, YouTube

In March 2026, a California jury found Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google (YouTube) for the depression and anxiety of a young woman who began using their platforms as a young girl. The jury ultimately awarded her $3 million in compensatory damages (punitive damages are still being determined at this time). This is the first jury verdict finding Big Tech liable for social media addiction.

Social media addiction is contributing to a mental health crisis among American youth.1

If your child is struggling — with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, or worse — you are not alone, and you are not powerless.

CONTACT US

We’re changing the narrative about lawsuits.™

“One of the worst things for a parent is to know your children are in danger yet be unable to do anything about it. That is how parents tell me they feel when it comes to social media — helpless and alone in the face of toxic content and hidden harms.”2

– US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murphy.

Is Social Media Addiction a Real Thing?

A thousand times yes. And it’s more than just, “My teen won’t put her phone away.” Social media addiction especially impacts young, impressionable brains, with teens being most vulnerable.3  Parents, you are not alone.

What’s the relentless hook?

Dopamine. It’s the chemical released by the brain when you get what you want, when you want it. “Dopamine release is based much more on the speed at which we get what we want, rather than what we’re actually getting,” says Dr. Clifford Sussman, Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist and Internet and Gaming Addiction Specialist. 4

More experts studying internet behavior emphasize the way content patterns are tailored to bullseye the pleasure centers of a respective user’s brain with magnetic, hard-to-skip streaming, as algorithms learn what elicits responses from that user. Imagine a slot machine whose most powerful lure is surprise – the unpredictable reward.

Psychology Today said this in regard to social media addiction: “Unpredictable reward” promises a higher response rate than “predictable reward,” and the algorithms know exactly how to space the intervals between random rewards.5

Why Are Attorneys General + Parents Suing Social Media Companies?

The social media addiction lawsuit is pushing back on companies for intentionally spoon feeding highly curated/ addictive content to developing young minds with built-in features like infinite scroll, auto video play, and algorithmic recommendations to compound addictive behavior.6

TikTok and Snapchat both settled their first lawsuits in late January 2026 before a trial started in February, but Meta and Google are still active defendants.7

When Mark Zuckerberg, head of Meta, testified on February 18, 2026, in Los Angeles Superior Court, a group of parents who lost their kids to influences directly traceable to social media addiction stood outside the courthouse holding hands. Inside, Zuckerberg defended his company, saying kids lie about their age and, “I don’t see why this is so complicated. We have rules, and people broadly understand that.”8

Adam Mosseri, who heads Instagram, also testified: “It’s important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use,” he said, challenging the concept that social media addiction is a legitimate health emergency and arguing that “even 16 hours of Instagram use in a single day does not show an addiction.”9

What Does the Science Say?

A landmark study published in JAMA/ the Journal of the American Medical Association in June 2025 followed 4,000 kids for years, starting at age 9-10, defining addicted as when a user has trouble looking away from the screen or putting down their phone and feels the need for more and more screen time.10

One-third of these kids had developed screen addictions by age 14; by then, they were “two to three times as likely as other children to have thoughts of suicide or to harm themselves,” the study found. One-third reported ‘“almost constant” daily use of social media platforms alone and nearly half of those ages 11-12 who own mobile phones reported losing track of how much they are using these devices.11,12

A grieving mother, Maurine Molak, shared with Fox News the story of her 16-year-old son who committed suicide, arguing “safe guards don’t work.”13 She said she had no idea her son was even in crisis.

How Do I Know If My Child Is Addicted to Social Media?

The Mayo Clinic says watch for these telltale signs:14

  • your child needs to be on their phone constantly
  • they start spiraling when they can’t check their phone or social media accounts
  • they have trouble sleeping or keeping up at school
  • they become depressed or suddenly obsessed about their body/ looks

“After being life-flighted to a children’s hospital and intubated, and after days in a medically induced coma, 13-year-old Taylor Little finally woke up.” Devastated that she was still alive, the instant her tube was removed, she asked, “Can I have my phone?”15

What Can I Do if My Child is Already Addicted?

If you think your child is suffering from dependence on social media, psychiatrists at the Yale University School of Medicine, among other experts, emphasize some critical tips:16

1

Avoid the head-on attack and instead let your child tell you what’s going on.

2

Listen (really listen) without judgment and avoid shaming.

3

Avoid ONLY talking about your child’s addiction problem and instead concentrate on better understanding who your child is.

4

Put on the brakes but avoid the “cold turkey” approach.

5

Avoid being on your own mobile phone at the table or while you’re talking to your child to discourage imitation.

6

Avoid physical interventions and aggressive ultimatums, instead taking a more balanced approach.

7

Seek professional help when needed.

And of course, if your child suffered serious harm, file a lawsuit!

Am I Able to File a Social Media Addiction Lawsuit?

Yes, and we want to help. Meta (Instagram/Facebook) is already being sued by more than 2,000 people plus AGs in more than 40 states, with more cases compounding. In separate actions, all 50 states have sued Alphabet (Google/ YouTube). These lawsuits all allege companies harmed their children’s mental health with addictive algorithms.17, 18

When the system breaks down, lawsuits fill the gaping hole. And when hurt people come forward and speak up, the impact is seismic, not just in terms of money awarded to help with the healing process, but noise focused to prompt societal change and revise industry morals.

Example: In breaking news late February 2026, Meta suddenly announced it will begin notifying parents if their child repeatedly searches for information relating to suicide or self-harm within a short time frame.

These kinds of alerts can help parents know their child may be in trouble, how to better support their child, how to approach delicate conversations, and when to seek expert advice before it’s too late to intervene.

Later in 2026, the new notifications will include information about AI conversations on social media, which have already proved detrimental. P.S. Sometimes parents have NO IDEA their child is in crisis!19

Can A Case for Women Help with a Social Media Harm Lawsuit?

Yep again. This lawsuit falls in line with other similar cases we’re deeply committed to: Roblox sexual abuse, video game addiction, and rideshare (Uber + Lyft), for example. Sidenote: This case shares a lot of similarities to the Roblox case.

We so resonate with expert tips supporting the power of listening. Our private intake team, located all across the country, is trauma-informed. When you contact us, you’re a person, not a number, and we listen between your words to calm your nerves before helping guide you if you’re thinking of taking legal action.

We want to be known best for how much we empower women. That means caring one-on-one about each woman who comes to us for help. In fact, A Case for Women was founded in 2015 because our two founders didn’t know who to turn to in similar crises.

CONTACT US 24/7/365

We’re here for you. You get to be the judge of our capacity to help you in a crisis, and we get that 100%.

Sources

  1. Vivek H. Murphy, “Surgeon General: Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms, New York Times, June 17, 2024.
  2. Vivek H. Murphy, “Surgeon General.”
  3. Vivek H. Murphy, “Surgeon General.”
  4. Staff, “Digital Addictions: A Family Guide to Prevention, Signs, and Treatment,” Children and Screens, June 2024.
  5. Dr. Phil Reed, “Thwarting the Social Media Algorithm with Behavioral Science,” Psychology Today, March 25, 2025.
  6. Kaitlyn Huamani, Barbara Ortutay, “Landmark trial accusing tech giants of harming children with addictive social media begins, PBS, February 9, 2026.
  7. Cecilia Kang, “TikTok Settles Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Ahead of a Landmark Trial,” New York Times, January 27, 2026.
  8. Shanshan Dong, Angela Yang, “Mark Zuckerberg grilled about underage Instagram users, social media addiction during landmark trial, NBC, February 18, 2026, updated February 19, 2026.
  9. Kali Hays, Regan Morris, Peter Bowes, “Instagram boss says 16 hours of daily use is ‘problematic’ not addiction, BBC, February 11, 2026.
  10. Yunyu Xiao, Yuan Meng, Timothy T. Brown, “Addictive Screen Use Trajectories and Suicidal Behaviors, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health in US Youths, JAMA/Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2025.
  11. Ellen Barry, “Real Risk to Youth Mental Health is ‘Addictive,’ Not Screen Time Alone, Study Finds,” New York Times, June 18, 2025.
  12. Staff, “Digital Addictions.”
  13. Staff, “Mother sounds alarm on social media addiction after losing teen son to suicide,” Fox News, February 10, 2026.
  14. Mayo Clinic Staff, “Teens and social media use: What’s the impact?” Mayo Clinic, December 24, 2025.
  15. Charlotte Alter, “Everything I Learned About Suicide, I Learned on Instagram,” TIME, August 20, 2025.
  16. Tracy O’Shaughnessy, “Yale experts say cutting back on social media can improve sleep and reduce stress,” New Haven Register, February 24, 2026.
  17. Kaitlyn Huamani, Barbara Ortutay, “Landmark trial.”
  18. Charlotte Alter, “Court Filings Allege Meta Downplayed Risks to Children and Misled the Public,” TIME, November 22, 2025.
  19. Rhitu Chatterjee, “Their teenage sons died by suicide. Now, they are sounding an alarm about AI chatbots,” NPR, September 19, 2025.

WE WEAR THIS BADGE PROUDLY. Because, in a time when legal services are still dominated by men, only a Women Owned Business can bring the woman’s perspective to issues that disproportionately affect women.

We are the ones, far more than men, who are injured by sexual assault, financial scams, the gender pay gap, toxic chemicals, and the misguided practices of powerful pharmaceutical companies.