Last updated: August 10, 2026
Think back to what your day looked like at fifteen. If you're like most people who came of age in the last decade, a good chunk of it happened on a screen — Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube. Checking likes before you got out of bed. Keeping a Snap streak alive so you wouldn't lose it. Falling into an hour of scrolling that somehow turned into three. If that time also came with real anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, or worse, you may have chalked it up to just being a teenager. A growing wave of social media addiction lawsuits argues otherwise — and a California jury recently agreed, finding that the platforms themselves were, at least in part, to blame.
Think Your Teenage Years on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or YouTube Left a Mark?
Find out if you qualify for a claim — free, confidential, and no fee unless we win.
See If You Qualify →On March 25, 2026, a Los Angeles jury awarded $6 million to a young woman who alleged that Meta (Instagram) and Google (YouTube) designed their platforms to be addictive and that doing so caused her serious mental health harm. It was the first jury verdict of its kind in the country, and Carey & Danis is currently investigating similar claims on behalf of young adults across the country whose teenage years were shaped by these same platforms.
What the Lawsuits Say These Companies Did
This litigation — consolidated as In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3047, in the Northern District of California — alleges that Meta, ByteDance (TikTok), Snap, and Google didn't just build popular apps. According to the plaintiffs' master complaint, they studied the neuroscience of the teenage brain, in particular the fact that the prefrontal cortex — the part responsible for impulse control — isn't fully developed until the mid-twenties, and then built features specifically to exploit that.
The complaint points to several design choices in particular:
- Infinite scroll, engineered to remove any natural stopping point and keep you in a "flow state."
- Variable reward notifications — likes, comments, and alerts allegedly timed and withheld the same way a slot machine paces its payouts, so you never knew when the next hit of validation was coming.
- Streaks and read receipts, which allegedly created a sense of social obligation to keep responding, even when you didn't want to.
- Filters that altered your appearance, reinforcing unrealistic beauty standards during the years you were most vulnerable to them.
- Little to no real age verification, despite the companies' own awareness of what their products were doing to underage users.
The complaint also alleges that these companies had internal research showing the harm their products were causing to teenagers — and that they kept building for engagement anyway.
You're Not the Only One Who Noticed
Since that March verdict, the litigation has kept moving. A Kentucky school district's case settled for a reported $27 million in May 2026. TikTok settled several more individual cases in early August, and trials against Meta, YouTube, and Snap are set to continue in October. More than 3,100 personal injury claims are now pending in the federal case alone, brought by people who, like you, grew up with these apps in their hands.
Tennessee's attorney general is also in the middle of a trial against Meta right now. Jury selection began July 20, 2026, and opening statements started a week later in a Nashville courtroom, with the state arguing Instagram was built to be "an addiction machine" and Meta countering that its platform was designed to be engaging, not addictive, and that it has built extensive safety tools for teens. The trial is expected to run about seven weeks, which would put a verdict sometime in September 2026. We'll update this post once there's a result, but the case is one more sign of how fast this litigation is moving.
If any of this sounds like your own teenage years, you don't have to sort out where you stand on your own. Our mass tort attorneys are reviewing these cases now, at no cost to you. See if you qualify →
Do You Have a Claim?
Based on the allegations in the litigation, you may have a claim if you:
- Used Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, or YouTube regularly during your teenage years, and
- Experienced significant anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, body image issues, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts.
If you're now in your late teens, twenties, or beyond and recognize yourself in that description, the statute of limitations in most states doesn't necessarily start running until you turned 18 — which means the window to file may still be open, even if the platform use happened years ago. It's worth finding out rather than assuming you're out of time.
If you're a parent of a child who is still a minor and has been harmed by social media use, you can file on their behalf as well. Visit National Case Alert's page for parents filing on behalf of a minor child to get started.
See Where You Stand — It Only Takes a Few Minutes
A short, confidential questionnaire is the fastest way to find out if you have a claim. No cost, no obligation, and no fee unless we win.
Start Your Free Case Review →Common Questions
I'm an adult now — can I still file a claim for harm that happened as a teenager?
Often, yes. In most states, the statute of limitations for a minor's injury claim doesn't start running until they turn 18, so the filing window may still be open even years after the platform use occurred. Deadlines vary by state, so it's worth having your specific situation reviewed.
What is MDL No. 3047?
MDL No. 3047 is the federal multidistrict litigation consolidating thousands of claims that Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube designed their platforms to be addictive to teenagers, pending in the Northern District of California.
Have there been any verdicts or settlements?
Yes. A Los Angeles jury awarded $6 million in March 2026 — the first verdict of its kind. A Kentucky school district separately settled with all four companies for a combined $27 million, and TikTok has settled several more individual cases. These are results in other cases, not a guarantee of any future outcome.
What symptoms or harms qualify me for a claim?
Regular teenage use of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, or YouTube, combined with significant anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, body image issues, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts.
Does it cost anything to find out if I have a claim?
No. We review these claims at no cost and work on contingency — there's no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Find Out Where You Stand
You can find out where you stand by completing a short, confidential questionnaire built for exactly this situation — there's no cost, no obligation, and no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Prefer to talk to someone at our office first? James J. Rosemergy is available at 1-800-721-2519, or you can reach out to our team via email at socialmedia@careydanis.com. As with all of our mass tort and class action work, there's no fee unless we win.
This post is based on publicly available court filings, jury verdicts, and news reporting, including Reuters, NPR, and CNBC coverage of MDL No. 3047. Carey & Danis has not independently verified every fact alleged in the underlying complaints. Prior results, including the verdicts and settlements described above, do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.
Attorney Advertising. This post does not create an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship is formed only upon execution of a written engagement agreement with Carey & Danis LLC.
