Social Media Addiction Lawsuits: Verdicts and Settlements

Social media addiction lawsuit settlements and verdicts so far include a $6 million jury verdict against Meta and YouTube in a California bellwether case, a $375 million verdict against Meta in New Mexico, a $27 million combined school district settlement in Kentucky, confidential settlements by TikTok and Snap in individual cases, and a $30 million approved class action settlement over YouTube’s handling of children’s data. No global settlement covers the full docket, and more trials are scheduled through 2027.¹

How the Litigation Is Organized

Most of the federal cases are consolidated in In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3047, before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California. Roughly 2,664 lawsuits were pending in the MDL as of mid-2026, filed by individuals, school districts, municipalities, and state attorneys general.¹ A parallel California state proceeding, JCCP 5255, is coordinated before Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl in Los Angeles Superior Court.² Defendants include Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Alphabet and Google (YouTube), Snap, TikTok and ByteDance, Discord, and Roblox.³

The common theory is that platform design features — infinite scroll, algorithmic recommendations, push notifications, autoplay, and engagement metrics — were engineered to maximize use among minors and that the companies knew these features drove addiction, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and self-harm. Plaintiffs bring claims for defective design, failure to warn, and negligence, with some adding fraud counts over the alleged concealment of internal research.¹

The First Jury Verdict: $6 Million Against Meta and YouTube

The first case to reach a jury was a California state bellwether brought by a young woman identified as K.G.M., who alleged she became addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child and developed anxiety and depression as a result. TikTok and Snap had both been defendants in her case; Snap settled confidentially about a week before jury selection, and TikTok settled on January 27, 2026, the day selection was set to begin. Neither admitted liability.⁴

Trial against Meta and YouTube began on February 10, 2026, and closing arguments ended on March 12. On March 25, 2026, the jury found both companies negligent, concluding they had knowingly designed features that were addictive and harmful, and specifically pointing to infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations.⁵ The total award was $6 million, split evenly between compensatory and punitive damages. Fault was apportioned 70 percent to Meta ($4.2 million) and 30 percent to YouTube ($1.8 million).² Meta has stated it disagrees with the verdict and intends to appeal, though no appeal had been filed as of mid-2026.¹

A key pretrial ruling by Judge Kuhl in November 2025 allowed jurors to consider whether the platforms’ design features — rather than user-generated content — caused the harm. That framing sidestepped the Section 230 immunity that typically shields platforms from liability for content posted by users.²

The $27 Million Breathitt County School District Settlement

The first school district bellwether in the federal MDL was brought by Breathitt County Schools in Kentucky, one of roughly 1,200 districts suing social media companies. The district alleged it had been forced to divert significant resources to mental health counseling, and originally sought more than $60 million.⁶

All four defendants settled before the scheduled June 2026 trial. YouTube, Snap, and TikTok reached deals in the two weeks before the trial date, and Meta followed shortly after.⁷ The combined total was $27 million:

Meta: $9 million
Snap: $8 million
TikTok: $8 million
YouTube: slightly more than $2 million

⁸ YouTube and Snap each described the matter as resolved amicably; TikTok declined to comment.⁹

New Mexico v. Meta: A $375 Million Verdict

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta in 2023, alleging the company prioritized profits over child safety and facilitated the sexual exploitation of children on its platforms. In March 2026, a New Mexico jury found Meta had committed thousands of separate violations of the state’s Unfair Practices Act. Applying the statutory maximum of $5,000 per violation, the penalty came to $375 million.¹⁰

A second phase followed: a bench trial before Judge Bryan Biedscheid on whether Meta’s platforms constitute a public nuisance. That trial ran from May 4 to May 26, 2026.¹¹ The state asked for $3.7 billion in restitution over 15 years and sweeping product changes for minors, including bans on infinite scroll and autoplay, restrictions on nighttime push notifications, and a 90-hour monthly use cap. Meta called the demands overbroad and suggested it could withdraw its platforms from New Mexico if they were granted. Judge Biedscheid signaled he was likely to find a public nuisance and order some remedies, while flagging parts of the state’s request as too nebulous or impractical.¹² Meta has said it will appeal the $375 million verdict.¹⁰

Children’s Privacy Settlements

Two settlements adjacent to the addiction cases involve the collection of children’s data rather than mental health harm. The claims are separate, but readers researching social media settlements often group them together.

YouTube: $30 Million Approved

In January 2026, a federal magistrate judge in the Northern District of California approved a $30 million class action settlement in Hubbard v. Google, which alleged YouTube collected geolocation, device identifiers, and other personal data from children under 13 without parental consent. The class covered U.S. residents who were under 13 at any point between July 1, 2013, and April 1, 2020, and watched content directed at children on YouTube. The claim-filing deadline was January 21, 2026.¹³¹⁴

TikTok: Roughly $400 Million Proposed

In May 2026, the Trump administration was reported to be nearing a roughly $400 million settlement with TikTok over federal claims that the company collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. The deal had not been finalized and still required approval by TikTok’s board; the underlying 2024 federal lawsuit remains active, with trial set for May 2027.¹⁵

Trials Scheduled and What’s Still Open

The federal MDL has selected 11 bellwether cases prioritizing institutional plaintiffs. School district bellwethers include Harford County (Maryland), DeKalb County (Georgia), Breathitt County (Kentucky, now settled), Irvington (New Jersey), Tucson Unified (Arizona), and Charleston County (South Carolina).¹⁶⁷¹⁷³

No global settlement exists, and none appears imminent. Bloomberg Intelligence has estimated the collective theoretical liability of the defendants at nearly $400 billion.¹⁸ Legal observers have said that systemic platform-wide changes comparable to the tobacco or opioid master settlements would likely require the companies to lose on appeal and then continue losing in subsequent trials before broader negotiations become realistic.¹⁹

1
ConsumerNotice.org. Social Media Harm Lawsuit
2
Courthouse News Service. Meta and Google Hit With $6 Million Verdict for Social Media Harms to Young Woman
3
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation
4
NPR. Social Media Kids Addiction Mental Health Trial
5
The New York Times. Social Media Trial Verdict
6
The New York Times. Meta Settlement Social Media Addiction Lawsuit
7
The Guardian. Meta Social Media Addiction Kentucky Schools
8
Lexington Herald-Leader. Social Media Settlement Breathitt County
9
The Daily Record. YouTube Snap TikTok Settlement Social Media Claims
10
NBC Bay Area. Meta Pay $375 Million New Mexico Jury Childrens Mental Health
11
Source NM. Judge Warns New Mexico Prosecutors He Won’t Overreach as Bench Trial Against Meta Begins
12
Politico. Meta Judge Trial Public Nuisance Facebook
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YouTubePrivacySettlement.com. YouTube Privacy Settlement
14
Courthouse News Service. Judge Approves $30 Million Settlement in YouTube Child Privacy Case
15
Reuters. US Nears $400 Million Settlement With TikTok Child Privacy Violations
16
Social Media Victims. Social Media Lawsuits
17
Courthouse News Service. Meta Settles Bellwether Suit Over Harms of Social Media to School Districts
18
EdSource. Social Media Giants Settle One of More Than a Thousand Addiction Lawsuits
19
ABC7. Los Angeles Social Media Addiction Trial Jury Finds Instagram YouTube Liable