Tens of thousands of families across the U.S. are filing lawsuits against Meta (Facebook & Instagram), TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and other platforms for creating dangerously addictive products targeted at children.
These lawsuits allege that social media companies intentionally designed algorithms to keep young users hooked—causing documented mental-health injuries, eating disorders, self-harm, and, in tragic cases, suicide.
At Salenger, Sack, Kimmel & Bavaro (SSKB), our national mass tort team is reviewing claims for individuals under age 18 who became addicted to social media and suffered severe harm as a result.
If your child has been affected, call (800) 675-8556 or contact us online for a confidential consultation.
You may qualify if you or your child:
These cases allege that technology companies knowingly used dopamine-driven reward loops to manipulate developing brains—an allegation supported by research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Psychological Association (APA):
Social media companies design their platforms around variable-reward dopamine loops, the same mechanism involved in gambling addiction.
According to the NIH, each “like,” notification, or new post activates the brain’s dopamine reward system, reinforcing compulsive checking behavior.
The prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for decision-making and impulse control—does not fully develop until around age 18.
For children and teens, this imbalance between “reward-seeking” and “self-control” makes them highly vulnerable to addictive features such as:
Major medical organizations—including the American Academy of Pediatrics—warn that social media is strongly correlated with eating disorders, depression, and anxiety in adolescents.
Common injuries tied to social media addiction include:
Many of the lawsuits allege that companies knew their platforms worsened these conditions but continued to prioritize engagement metrics over child safety.
If you or a loved one have been affected by social media addiction, don’t wait to seek legal help.
Contact Salenger, Sack, Kimmel & Bavaro today for a FREE consultation.
Call (800) 675-8556 or contact us online to get started.
The social media addiction lawsuits against major technology companies, including Meta, Google/YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, X, and Discord, continue to expand as courts examine whether these platforms can be held responsible for alleged harm to children and teens.
A recent California court ruling may be a major setback for social media companies that have relied on Section 230 immunity as a defense. For years, platforms have argued that they cannot be held liable for user-generated content posted by others. However, plaintiffs in the social media addiction litigation argue that the core issue is not simply the content children view online, but the design of the platforms themselves.
Section 230 has often protected online platforms from lawsuits based on content created by users. But in these cases, plaintiffs allege that children were harmed by addictive algorithms, endless scrolling features, push notifications, recommendation systems, and other engagement-based design choices.
The court’s reasoning may allow certain claims to move forward by focusing on defective platform design rather than individual posts, videos, or messages. This distinction is important because it may limit the ability of companies like Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube to use Section 230 as a complete defense.
The litigation is also growing beyond the original major social media defendants. In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, an amended lawsuit added allegations involving X and Discord, claiming that these platforms failed to implement adequate parental controls and exposed minors to grooming, exploitation, and other serious online harms.
The amended complaint also includes allegations involving Grok, X’s artificial intelligence chatbot. This may signal a broader shift in the litigation, with plaintiffs increasingly focusing not only on social media addiction, but also on whether AI tools, algorithms, and platform features were designed in ways that exposed children to foreseeable harm.
Our mass tort attorneys represent families across the country in claims against:
We handle every aspect of your claim—including medical review, documentation, filing, and coordination with the MDL—so your family can focus on healing.
If you or your child suffered harm linked to social media addiction, you deserve answers.
SSKB is here to help guide you through your legal options and hold negligent tech companies accountable.
Call (800) 675-8556 or click below to request a case review: