Judge Selects First Social Media Addiction Lawsuits for Trial in Massive MDL
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The legal battle against various social media giants over addiction and harm allegations is moving forward. A federal judge has chosen 11 lawsuits to serve as test cases.
The cases, filed by school districts and individual plaintiffs, accuse platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube of knowingly designing addictive features that have caused serious harm to young users.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is overseeing the multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of California, finalized the bellwether case selection on June 16, 2025. The 11 chosen lawsuits include six school districts in Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and South Carolina, along with five suits from individual plaintiffs.
These first trials, known as bellwether trials, are expected to set the tone for how the more than 1,800 remaining cases in the MDL will be handled. Bellwether trials help gauge how juries might respond to legal arguments and evidence in large-scale legal disputes.
These early cases are expected to shape future legal strategies in the social media harm MDL. If they go in favor of the plaintiffs, these trials may even push the companies involved toward settlement talks.
Platforms Accused of Designing Addictive Products That Harm Kids
The focus in these cases is the claim that companies, including Meta Platforms, Snapchat, ByteDance, Google and others, built platforms with addictive mechanics that affect adolescents. Plaintiffs in the social media harm lawsuits allege this has caused various mental and physical health problems.
Allegations go beyond children having too much screen time. Plaintiffs link social media use to problems like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal ideation and even death.
As of June 2, 2025, there were 1,814 lawsuits consolidated in the MDL, reflecting a growing concern among parents, school officials and public health advocates.
Research has long pointed to troubling connections between excessive social media use and psychological distress, especially among adolescents and teens with still-developing brains.
A 2022 Pew Research Center study found that nearly half of teens reported experiencing cyberbullying. Experts estimate that up to 10% of Americans may suffer from some form of social media addiction, with young users being particularly vulnerable.
