Social media, addiction, and youth mental health

In March 2026, a California jury awarded $US 6 million to a woman who argued Google and Meta's social media products were defectively designed and compulsive use during childhood caused her depression and anxiety. That same month, a New Mexico jury concluded that Meta misled consumers about the safety of its products and endangered youth, resulting in penalties of $US 375 million. Although social media companies' liability is newly being litigated, the allegations in many cases—that companies knowingly engineered products that foster addictive use among youth—echo claims that shaped litigation against another industry: Tobacco. With both March 2026 verdicts being appealed and many more cases pending, we highlight what lessons tobacco litigation offers for litigation against social media companies.

Social media platforms are central to youths' media environment, with use nearly ubiquitous among U.S. adolescents. In 2025, 92% of youth aged 13–17 used YouTube, 68% TikTok, 63% Instagram, 31% Facebook, and 36% reported using social media “almost constantly”.¹ In the U.S., Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields platforms from liability for user-generated content. But, unsurprisingly given the rates of youth use, current litigation focuses instead on whether companies knowingly designed defective products with features that foster compulsive or addiction-like use among youth, citing internal company documents obtained through discovery. For example, Meta's internal study of social media use, Project Myst, allegedly showed the company recognized some youths were vulnerable to compulsive use and addiction-like behaviors, and parental controls had limited effectiveness.

The 2023 U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory, “Social Media and Youth Mental Health”,² summarizes growing evidence that frequent social media use may negatively affect youth mental health and brain development and describes the risks of “excessive” and “problematic” use. Platform features (e.g., algorithm-driven content, auto-play, infinite scroll) repeatedly engage the brain's reward circuity, including dopaminergic pathways involved in motivation, reinforcement, and habit formation,³ and may contribute to compulsive or addictive use and downstream behaviors (e.g., impaired control) resembling clinical features of substance addiction.⁴ The Advisory recommended stronger protections for young people and greater corporate accountability in platform design. Some governments are developing such regulatory schemes, including the United Kingdom, which has proposed banning social media for youth under 16 years of age.⁵

Others have drawn parallels between social media litigation and cases involving opioids and pesticides.⁶ There are also striking parallels to litigation against tobacco companies that culminated in the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. Litigation against tobacco companies similarly relied on industry documents showing companies knowingly engineered addictive products and deceived the public about their risks. The information that came to light in that litigation helped spark substantial policy change, including the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that brought tobacco products under U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation. Today, smoking has reached historically low levels in the U.S.

Labeling social media products as addictive is complex, and more robust evidence is needed to inform this question from clinical and public health perspectives.⁷ However, like current evidence on the harms of social media for youth, early evidence linking smoking to adverse health outcomes^8,9 was dismissed by the tobacco industry. Before the Master Settlement Agreement, 24 U.S. Surgeon General reports documented accumulating evidence on the addictiveness and health effects of tobacco use.¹⁰ This evidence, combined with industry documents revealed in litigation showing that companies concealed information, was central to reframing tobacco use as a public health problem, exposing an industry that prioritized profits over public health, and precipitating policy change.

The 2023 U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory, recent court decisions, and ongoing litigation may represent early steps like those taken with tobacco decades ago to protect youth and has the potential to motivate policy changes that reduce harm and catalyze resources to support youth safety, digital literacy, and evidence-based prevention efforts. But a central unresolved question for policymakers and courts is whether social media platforms in fact exhibit abuse liability—the capacity to foster compulsive use and addiction-like behavior through specific design features—and how youth can be protected from the harms of social media use while preserving any benefits (e.g., entertainment, social connection). Mark Mosseri, head of Instagram, compared extended social media use to “watching TV for longer than you feel good about,” and argued it should not be considered addictive.¹¹ Meaningful policy reform will require robust evidence that platforms or specific features exhibit abuse liability. Just as happened with tobacco, rigorous empirical studies could reshape scientific, public, and legal understandings of social media, accelerate policy reform, and strengthen protections for youth.

Contributors

DM, RBC, and EMS conceptualized the paper and drafted and revised the original manuscript. APT and PJZ contributed to conceptualization, writing, and editing.

Declaration of interests

DM, RBC, EMS, APT, and PJZ receive research funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. DM receives research funding from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. EMS receives research funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. PJZ served as Deputy General Counsel to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from November 2023 to January 2025 and receives research funding from Arnold Ventures. The authors declare no other competing interests.