Judge Selects Bellwether Cases in Social Media Addiction Lawsuit
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A federal judge has selected 11 bellwether cases in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) against social media companies like Facebook and Snapchat over alleged addiction-related harms.
The initial litigation includes social media lawsuits from six school districts and five individual plaintiffs.
These cases will be the first to go to trial and could influence the outcome of hundreds of similar cases across the country. They could even prompt the defendants to consider a settlement.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is overseeing the cases, made the selection on June 16, 2025, issuing an order that outlined a series of upcoming dates. The selected school districts are located in Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and South Carolina.
A bellwether trial is a test case in large-scale litigation used to gauge how juries may respond to the evidence. The outcome of these trials will likely influence how the remaining social media harm cases are handled by setting a precedent for future rulings or encouraging a settlement.
Lawsuits Claim Social Media Is Fueling a Youth Mental Health Crisis
As of June 2, there were 1,814 social media lawsuits were pending in the MDL in the Northern District of California. The lawsuits, filed by individuals, school districts and states, accuse the owners of major social media platforms of deliberately designing their products to be addictive, causing serious mental and physical harm — and in some cases death — to adolescents.
Defendants in the MDL include Meta Platforms, Snapchat, ByteDance, Google and more.
The alleged harms go beyond addiction and include mental conditions like anxiety, depression, eating disorders and suicidal ideation. Research has linked social media use to these issues. Some experts estimate that up to 10% of Americans may be addicted to social media, with teens and children at most risk because of their developing brains.
While social media is known for connecting people, its potential for harm is well documented. In a 2022 Pew Research study, nearly half of teens reported experiencing some form of cyberbullying. Features like infinite scroll and algorithmic content targeting can fuel addiction or negativity.
