The Social Media Adolescent Addiction / Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (MDL 3047) is one of the largest emerging mass torts of the 2020s. Consolidated in the Northern District of California under Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, the MDL brings together hundreds of individual personal injury cases and dozens of state Attorney General enforcement actions against Meta (Facebook, Instagram), TikTok (ByteDance), Snap (Snapchat), and YouTube (Google/Alphabet). The core theory: these platforms are addictive by design, they knew of and internally documented the harm to minors, and they failed to warn users and parents.

Alleged harms

• Suicide and suicidal ideation in adolescents — leading category by damages
• Attempted suicide
• Eating disorders — anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder
• Body dysmorphia
• Depression and anxiety requiring treatment
• Self-harm behaviors
• School disruption — expulsions related to platform-facilitated bullying
• Sextortion victimization

The core allegations

• Addictive design — variable-reward feed algorithms, infinite scroll, autoplay, notification dopamine loops
• Beauty filters that alter self-perception and drive body dysmorphia
• Frances Haugen disclosures — internal Meta research (leaked 2021) showing platforms knew of harms to teen girls
• Failure to enforce age minimums — allowing users under 13
• Weak parental controls
• Algorithmic amplification of harmful content (eating disorder content, self-harm content)

Section 230 defense

The platforms’ primary defense is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which broadly immunizes online platforms from liability for third-party content. Judge Gonzalez Rogers has issued significant rulings narrowing Section 230’s reach as it applies to design-defect claims (as opposed to content-based claims). This is a key legal battle that will shape the ultimate scope of the litigation. The Ninth Circuit is expected to weigh in.

Who qualifies

• Minor (or on behalf of deceased minor) — most cases involve users who were between 8 and 17 at time of harm
• Heavy user of one or more named platforms — Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook
• Diagnosed mental health condition — must be documented in medical/psychological records
• Causation between platform use and harm — established via expert testimony

Case posture

The MDL is in active discovery and pre-bellwether phase. Individual settlement values will depend heavily on the surviving legal theories after Section 230 rulings, and on the severity of individual documented harm. Cases involving completed suicide are being pursued individually and in some cases outside the MDL structure.

General information. Not legal advice.