Keller Postman Social Media Lawsuit: Verdicts and Settlements

Keller Postman is a plaintiffs’ firm filing individual lawsuits for teens, young adults, and their families inside the federal social media addiction litigation known as MDL No. 3047, pending before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California.¹² The Keller Postman social media lawsuit work targets Meta (Instagram and Facebook), Google (YouTube), ByteDance (TikTok), and Snap (Snapchat), on the theory that these platforms were designed to addict minors and caused documented mental health injuries. The MDL contains more than 2,400 pending cases as of early 2026 and has already produced a $6 million jury verdict in a related state-court bellwether and a $27 million federal bellwether settlement.

Who Can File a Claim

Firms handling these cases generally screen for people who used Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or YouTube regularly as minors and later developed a documented mental health condition. The conditions most commonly accepted include depression, anxiety, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, self-harm, and suicidal ideation or attempts.¹

A viable claim usually requires two things beyond heavy platform use as a minor: professional medical or psychological treatment for the condition, and a timeline that connects the onset of symptoms to the period of social media use. A parent or guardian can file on behalf of an affected minor.¹

Eligibility rules and statute-of-limitations deadlines vary by state, so waiting carries real risk. One boundary worth naming: the MDL covers injuries to the young users themselves. Claims by other users harmed by content on the platforms are a different question, and the court has already ruled that the companies have no legal obligation to protect users from harm caused by other users.³

How Filing Through Keller Postman Works

Keller Postman takes these cases on a contingency-fee basis. Clients pay nothing upfront and owe fees only if the firm wins or settles the case. Initial consultations are free and can be started through the firm’s website.¹

After intake, the firm handles the evidence-gathering work: medical records, platform usage history, and the kind of internal-company-document review that drives these cases.¹ An individual claim is filed into the MDL and sits alongside thousands of others while bellwether trials and settlements shape what cases are worth. Most clients will not personally go to trial; the MDL structure is built around test cases that then drive broader resolution.

What the Lawsuits Allege

The central claim is that infinite scrolling, autoplay video, algorithmic recommendations, and similar engagement features function as addiction mechanisms, and that the companies knew it. Plaintiffs tie that design to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, and other mental health injuries in young users.⁴

The legal theories vary. Some cases frame the platforms as defective products. Others sound in negligence, alleging the companies failed in a duty of care to minor users. The defendants have leaned on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the First Amendment, arguing they cannot be held liable for content posted by users.⁴

That defense has lost ground. In November 2023, Judge Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Section 230 and the First Amendment do not bar negligence per se claims aimed at the design and algorithmic architecture of the platforms, as opposed to specific user content.⁵ In January 2026, the Ninth Circuit expressed skepticism toward Meta’s attempt to use Section 230 to dismiss more than 2,200 consolidated cases.⁶

Verdicts and Settlements So Far

Two results in 2026 give some sense of what these cases can produce.

The K.G.M. Verdict

The first individual case to go to trial was a bellwether in California state court, not the federal MDL. The plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman identified as K.G.M., alleged that Instagram and YouTube’s addictive features caused her severe anxiety and depression. Snap settled confidentially on about January 22, 2026, and TikTok settled on January 27, the day jury selection was scheduled to start.⁷

On March 25, 2026, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Meta and Google negligent, concluding that the platforms’ features were a “substantial factor” in the plaintiff’s depression and anxiety. The jury awarded $6 million total, split evenly between compensatory and punitive damages. Meta was held responsible for 70 percent of the award, roughly $4.2 million, with about $1.8 million against YouTube’s parent.⁸⁹ Both companies have said they will appeal, and Meta filed a motion in May 2026 asking the trial judge to overturn the verdict or grant a new trial.¹⁰

The Breathitt County Settlement

The first federal bellwether to resolve was a school district case. Judge Gonzalez Rogers had selected six school districts as bellwethers: Breathitt County (Kentucky), Charleston County (South Carolina), DeKalb County (Georgia), Harford County (Maryland), Irvington (New Jersey), and Tucson Unified (Arizona).¹¹¹²¹³

The payout breakdown:¹²

Meta: $9 million
Snapchat: $8 million
TikTok: $8 million
YouTube: just over $2 million

What’s on the Calendar

Five individual personal-injury bellwether cases remain in the MDL alongside the school district track.⁷¹⁴³ Defendants’ summary judgment motions against the six bellwether school districts are also pending.¹¹

Separately, a New Mexico jury found Meta liable on March 24, 2026, for violating state consumer protection and child safety laws, and ordered Meta to pay $375 million. In a remedies hearing on May 22, 2026, Judge Bryan Biedscheid indicated he was likely to find Meta’s products a public nuisance and issue a mitigation order, with possible remedies including an independent safety monitor and pauses on app notifications for young users during school hours. A final order had not been issued as of late May 2026.⁸¹⁵

About the Firm

Keller Postman was founded in 2018 as Keller Lenkner and took its current name in 2022 after a co-founder departed.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹

If you think you or your child may qualify, the practical next step is a case evaluation sooner rather than later, because state filing deadlines are not uniform and the medical and usage records that support a claim take time to pull together.

1
Keller Postman. Social Media
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CourtListener. In Re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation
3
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. USA: Judge Rejects Social Media Companies’ Request to Dismiss Child Mental Health Lawsuits
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Syracuse Law Review. Legal Challenges Continue Against Social Media Companies for Alleged Role in the Youth Mental Health Crisis
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Tech Policy Press. Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation MDL No. 3047
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Keller Postman. Ashley Keller