Big Tech on trial over social media addiction lawsuit
Erin Bradbury - 5 February 2026
Adding to the mounting pressures that tech giants are facing at the moment from regulators in the US and Europe, a landmark jury trial has begun over in California, questioning how product design choices related to algorithms have contributed to addictive behaviours and negatively impacted users’ mental health.
This lawsuit centres around a 19-year-old woman, who alleges to have had her mental health negatively impacted, and will kick off a series of bellwether trials. These trials are essentially a small, consolidated group of lawsuits used as ‘test cases’ for a larger group of cases. Effectively, in mass tort litigation, bellwether trials serve as a tool to gauge jury reactions and set precedents for related cases, whilst simultaneously preventing conflicting rulings. This has been agreed through a judicial council coordination proceeding (also known as a JCCP).
It is believed that these trials could potentially determine a settlement relating to around 1,600 plaintiffs, involving more than 350 families and 250 school districts in the US. This marks a new direction for legal action against the social media giants, who have never been placed in front of a jury trial before.
The likes of Meta, Google, and X, have long been protected from litigation by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which protects online platforms from liability based on content generated by third parties. This means that liability has, up to this point, been absolved due to the tech giants’ argument that users were the ones generating the content, and thus blame rested with them. However, a Californian judge recently found that it doesn’t protect companies from liability related to design features including infinite scroll, algorithm recommendations, and autoplay.
The organisations maintain they can’t be held liable for third party content and highlight the numerous safeguards that have been implemented over recent years. As of now, Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc, has settled out of court along with TikTok, for undisclosed sums. This comes just before jury selection. Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube, are still facing claims.
Having been likened to previous tobacco and opioid lawsuits which have resulted in billions having been paid out, if this argument is successful in proving a direct link between the design of the media platforms and their impact on users, it could open the flood gates to a new wave of litigation.