Social media addiction lawsuits

• Addictive design. Plaintiffs allege the platforms are defective because they are designed to maximize screen time, which can encourage addictive behavior in adolescents.
• Harm to young users. Personal injury plaintiffs allege that compulsive use as minors led to serious mental health illness, including depression and anxiety, and to other emotional and physical harms. Some families have brought claims on behalf of a child who died.
• Other plaintiffs. The MDL also includes lawsuits brought by school districts and by state attorneys general.

Parents and guardians can ask on behalf of a child. If your child died and you believe social media use played a part, you can also ask for a free case evaluation.

Our attorneys look at

• Which platforms were used, and at what age use began
• How use changed over time, and its effect on sleep, school and daily life
• Diagnoses and treatment, such as counseling, medication or hospital care

You don't need everything on this list to ask for an evaluation. Gather what you can.

• A list of the platforms and accounts used, and roughly when each started
• Screen-time reports from the phone or app, if available
• Records from doctors, therapists, counselors or hospitals
• School records that show changes, such as attendance or grades, if relevant
• A short timeline of when problems began and the care received

Don't delete accounts before talking with us; account history can matter.

• LitigationMDL No. 3047
• CourtU.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Oakland)
• JudgeChief Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
• CreatedOctober 6, 2022

As of October 2026, lawsuits allege that social media platforms are defectively designed to maximize screen time in ways that can encourage addictive behavior in adolescents, resulting in emotional and physical harms that include depression, anxiety and, in some cases, death. The MDL, which also includes cases brought by school districts and state attorneys general, is pending before Chief Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California, who held a further case management conference on October 9, 2026.

What public health officials have said

In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on social media and youth mental health, which said that we cannot conclude social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents.

Status checked October 12, 2026. This MDL is listed as pending on the JPML report of pending MDLs dated October 1, 2026 (opens in a new tab). Court dockets change; each page shows the date it was last checked.

More questions in the FAQ

• U.S. District Court, Northern District of CaliforniaU.S. District Court, N.D. Cal.: In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, 4:22-md-03047-YGRcand.uscourts.gov (opens in a new tab)
• Judicial Panel on Multidistrict LitigationJPML Transfer Order, MDL No. 3047 (filed Feb. 1, 2023), describing the MDL's allegationsjpml.uscourts.gov (opens in a new tab)
• U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesU.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Social Media and Youth Mental Health (Surgeon General's Advisory, 2023)hhs.gov (opens in a new tab)