A trial has begun in Los Angeles, California, to examine whether Instagram and YouTube may have harmed a userʼs mental health.
Reuters reports this.
The lawsuit was filed by a 20-year-old girl, identified in court documents as KGM. She accuses Meta (owner of Instagram) and Alphabet (owner of YouTube) of the fact that the design of the platforms contributed to the formation of addiction.
The plaintiff claims that she began using social media heavily as a teenager, which exacerbated her depression and suicidal thoughts. Her lawyers want to prove that the companies were negligent in developing the products and failed to warn users of the potential risks.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to be called as a witness. The trial itself is expected to last until March. TikTok and Snapchat, which were also named in the lawsuit, reached a settlement with the plaintiff before the hearing began.
This case could be a landmark case: if the court finds the platforms liable, it could influence other lawsuits against technology companies. California already has 2,300 similar cases related to the impact of social media on children and adolescents.
Meta and Google have said they will defend themselves in court. The companies say they are taking into account the safety of the young people and believe that other circumstances in the plaintiffʼs life may have influenced her condition.
Mass bans on social media around the world
In December 2025, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children under the age of 16. The countryʼs authorities explained their decision by saying that social media can harm children — for example, affecting their physical and mental health.
In January, France passed a bill in its first reading to ban social media for children under 15. The bill will now go to the Senate (the upper house of parliament) and, if it makes any changes, the National Assembly will vote on it again. If passed, France would become the first country in Europe to completely ban social media for children under 15.
The UK and Spain also want to ban social media for children under 16, and Greece is close to announcing a similar ban for children under 15, a Reuters source told Reuters. Slovenia is also preparing a bill to ban access to social media for children under 15.
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