Jury selection is expected to begin on Wednesday in Los Angeles for another landmark trial in the US about the alleged harms of social media on young users, with Meta and, for the first time, Snap as defendants.
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed in recent years in American courtrooms at local, state and federal level but also in European courtrooms in France, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, with claims about alleged harms to children and teenagers caused by social media companies and their platforms.
Social media platforms are facing global pushback over the dangers of their algorithms, from social media bans in Australia and Europe to the EU Kids Act proposal from the European Commission that aims to shift the burden of responsibility for taking care of children online off of parents and back onto the platforms as well as a social media ban for under-15s.
Legal cases in the US and elsewhere are having a similar impact, forcing the companies to make substantive changes to their platforms and features to make them safer to use.
Meta and YouTube lost the first US case in March this year, when a jury found them collectively liable for harming a young user known by the initials KGM, and ordered the tech companies to pay a combined $6 million (€5.4 million) penalty.
Meta said at the time that they “respectfully disagree” with the verdict. Snap and TikTok settled with KGM ahead of that trial.
Months later, Snap, TikTok and YouTube settled another case that was set to go to trial in August; that plaintiff, known as RKC, then withdrew their remaining claims against Meta, allowing the Instagram and Facebook maker to avoid trial without a settlement.
TikTok and YouTube were previously named as defendants in the new case, but both companies reached settlement agreements with the plaintiffs, known by their initials SJ and KDB, before the start of the trial, their lawyers said.
Meta reached a settlement agreement with one of the plaintiffs, SJ, but not KDB, according to their lawyers.
A California state judge consolidated both cases into a single trial.
If no additional settlements are reached before opening statements kick off on November 4, the new trial will move forward with both Meta and Snap as defendants.
Star witnesses are expected to testify from mid-November including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.
Earlier this month, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion (€22.5 billion) after the company was found liable for deceiving users in the state about how their data was used, in a case linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
A New Mexico jury previously found the social media giant liable for harms to children, leading to a combined penalty of $942 million (€846.7 million).
In August, Meta agreed to pay more than $18 billion (€16.1 billion) in penalties, in addition to making changes to Instagram and Facebook for teens, when it settled with 52 attorneys general several days into a trial held in California.
Part of that settlement depended on YouTube and TikTok making similar changes to their own products, such as limiting daily screentime.
‘Addictive and problematic’
As regulators around the world grapple with reining in, or even banning, social media use for teens, American lawsuits have focused on allegations of addictive design and deceptive practices by social media companies.
In November, lawyers for the two plaintiffs in Los Angeles — SJ and KDB — will argue that their clients were exposed to “addictive and problematic” social media apps when they started using them at 13 and 15, respectively, according to court documents.
SJ, a teen in Illinois, began to use Snapchat, the app created by Snap, compulsively and subsequently experienced mental health issues, an eating disorder and self harm, her lawyers claim.
KDB, now an 18-year-old from Mississippi, similarly developed compulsive use of both Meta and Snap, leading to worsening mental and physical health, according to her lawyers.
Meta has previously denied such claims.
“We will not back away from defending ourselves against baseless lawsuits,” Meta told AFP in July.
Snap intends to argue that it is different from other apps like Meta’s Instagram and Facebook because of Snapchat’s focus on primarily being a messaging platform.
“We believe the evidence will support that we have put our community first, and that these allegations fundamentally misrepresent the plaintiffs’ experiences on Snapchat and how our platform was designed,” a Snap spokesperson said in a statement.
Social media harms a global concern
Outside of America’s borders, social media firms have faced significant legal pushback around the world, particularly in Europe.
France has seen not one, not two, but three cases brought against TikTok in the last two years.
In November 2024, seven families filed a joint lawsuit alleging that TikTok exposed teenagers to harmful content. The case then expanded from a civil lawsuit to criminal action in May this year and from 7 to 16 families engaging in litigation.
Before these cases, the mother of a 15-year-old girl named Marie filed an individual criminal complaint against TikTok in 2023, which laid the groundwork for the other actions.
Lawyers for the case brought it to the attention of the European Commission, which subsequently found that TikTok was in breach of the EU’s online rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), for failing to meet safety and account standards required to protect children online.
Meanwhile, in October 2025 in Italy, the Italian Parents’ Movement (MOIGE) and families brought a collective action seeking stronger age verification for under-14s, more transparency about how the algorithm works and dark pattern features such as infinite scrolling.
The first hearing took place in May this year in Milan, with Meta and TikTok attempting to get the case thrown out on the basis that Italian courts lack jurisdiction to rule on their corporate conduct. However, the prosecution’s lawyers filed new evidence showing that firms were fully aware of the addictive, predatory nature of their algorithms and the damage their platforms posed to children.
In September, Italy adopted a new legal framework, creating explicit rules for civil and corporate criminal liability regarding AI and predictive profiling.
The final hearing is set for 19 November, when judges are expected to rule on the platforms’ practices. If the plaintiffs win, the companies could be forced to introduce certified third-party age verification, dismantle features the plaintiffs describe as predatory and publish health warnings, for example about dopamine-driven design.
At European level, the European Commission has been investigating social media platforms for a while now. In February this year, the Commission found that TikTok’s design may breach the DSA, citing indicators of compulsive use and concerns about screentime and parental controls.
In March, the Commission launched a similar investigation into Snapchat and is yet to make a decision.
In separate findings in April and July this year, the Commission found that Meta had violated the DSA for failing to take enough action to protect children under 13 from accessing their services and for using addictive design features such as infinite scrolling and autoplay and demanded that they remove the features from their platforms.
In July, the Commission found that TikTok had failed to protect children’s privacy and safety via its public account settings.