US Lawsuit Alleges Social Media Algorithms Designed to Addict Children
A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles alleges that Meta and Alphabet deliberately designed social media recommendation algorithms to addict children, causing psychological harm. The case marks the first time a social media company faces a jury trial over allegations of intentionally engineering addiction in minors, with the plaintiff claiming she suffered serious mental health impacts from childhood exposure to YouTube without parental warnings.
What happened
A lawsuit opened for trial on 9 February 2026 in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that Meta and Alphabet (YouTube's parent company) deliberately designed their platform algorithms to addict children. Plaintiff lawyers compared the case to tobacco litigation of the 1990s and 2000s, arguing that the companies engineered addictive mechanisms similar to slot machines to hijack children's attention.
The case involves a 20-year-old plaintiff identified as K.G.M., who claims she began watching YouTube at age 6 and became trapped in algorithmic control without warnings to her parents about the platform's goal to make viewers addicted. TikTok and Snapchat, originally named as defendants, settled before trial began with undisclosed amounts.
Reported impact
The plaintiff alleges she suffered serious psychological harm due to childhood immersion in social media. In hundreds of related cases across the United States, social media companies are alleged to have caused young users to become addicted to content, leading to depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization, and suicide.
Index analysis
Plaintiff lawyers challenged the companies' defense under Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act by arguing the case targets the business model itself—how the platforms are designed to capture attention—rather than user-generated content. Meta's defense counsel argued the plaintiff's psychological problems stemmed from family factors and real-life bullying rather than Instagram use.
Governance controls
YouTube stated through a spokesperson that allegations in the lawsuits are not factual and that providing safer, healthier experiences for teenagers has been core to their work.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.