On March 25, 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google, the parent companies of Facebook and YouTube, liable for causing severe mental harm to a teen user. The landmark case creates a new type of personal injury claim centered on young people’s mental health and the harm caused by addictive design features of social media platforms. If your family was affected, you may have a legal claim.

Muth Law, P.C. is committed to holding social media companies accountable for harming young people, especially when the potential for long-term damage was well-known and documented but never addressed.

Social Media Companies Exploit the Still-Developing Adolescent Brain

Scientists have confirmed that the human brain is not fully mature until a person reaches their mid-20s. The last region to develop is the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control, decision-making, and regulating emotional responses. Because neurological development is still underway in teens and adolescents, young people may struggle to resist the compulsive patterns that social media platforms are engineered to create.

They Knew Their Products Were Harming Children

Social media platforms are deliberately engineered to trigger the same neurological response as slot machines. They use a design principle called a “variable ratio reinforcement schedule” which triggers a dopamine response and can lead to compulsive behavior.

Internal documents revealed that social media companies studied this effect, understood its effects, and continued anyway. When their own researchers raised concerns about the mental health of teens—particularly young girls—executives chose to continue optimizing their product to maximize engagement. For some families, the result has been anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and self-harm in children who were simply given a phone.

Harm Caused by Excessive Social Media Use

Young people who experienced anxiety, depression, eating disorders, or self-harm as a result of compulsive social media use may have a legal claim against social media companies. Factors that strengthen a claim for damages include:

• A documented diagnosis from a medical or mental health professional
• Evidence of compulsive use of social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok
• A measurable impact on daily life, such as damage to relationships, declining academic or work performance, or required medical treatment

Michigan Attorneys for Social Media Injuries

If a loved one experienced mental harm caused by compulsive social media use, you may have a legal claim. Muth Law represents clients in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, and throughout Michigan. You will never pay us an attorney fee until we recover money for you. Call 734-481-8800 or contact us via e-mail to schedule a free and confidential appointment to discuss your situation and how we can assist you. We look forward to helping you and your family.