Teenagers in the U.S. spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. At the same time, teens are experiencing some of the highest rates of mental health issues. Ever.
Parents are seeing their kids suffer with depression, anxiety, body image issues, suicide attempts, and sleep disorders. While there’s significant evidence indicating social media addiction is a contributing cause of these struggles, parents are feeling helpless, unsure of how to address and support their children.
Big tech is looking more like Big Tobacco as time goes on, and lawmakers, advocacy groups, parents, school districts, and state attorneys general have decided enough is enough.
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against tech giants over the last few years. The social media mental health multidistrict litigation (MDL) has grown to include over 2,400 lawsuits. At the same time, widespread individual lawsuits are popping up across the country.
Recent trial outcomes of these high-profile, closely watched cases, including a $6 million verdict against Meta and YouTube, have shown these companies aren’t shielded from liability like they once were.
Social media might not be causing cancer like cigarettes, but the seriousness of mental and emotional harm to children and teens is just as significant. While alarming, it helps explain what’s at stake.
Similarities Between Big Tech and Big Tobacco Litigation
There are both similarities and differences between the current social media litigation and the decades-old smoking lawsuits. It’s the similarities that have raised the question: Is Big Tech having a Big Tobacco moment?
First, the sheer number of people injured by cigarettes and platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat are similar. Phones are the new cigarette pack, taken everywhere kids (and adults) go and used throughout the day and night.
The legal implications and arguments for the Big Tobacco and Big Tech lawsuits are very similar as well. Plaintiffs argue(d) companies knew their products were addictive and of the risks and dangers associated with them, but they failed to warn and protect consumers.
Another similarity is the evidence. With cigarettes, internal documents revealed that tobacco companies had long studied nicotine addiction and its health effects. The same goes for the evidence being used in social media addiction lawsuits.
Plaintiffs have once again pointed to internal documents from Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok that shows they knew their platforms were addictive, especially for minors. They further allege they knew this addiction causes depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems.
But there are core differences between Big Tobacco and Big Tech litigation, too.
What’s Different About Social Media Lawsuits?
Social media lawsuits aren’t quite the same as what cigarette companies faced, and there are unique challenges. One of the most notable differences is the type of harm the products cause.
Online platforms are contributing to mental health injuries, whereas cigarettes physically hurt consumers by causing cancers, heart disease, and stroke. The cause-and-effect relationship between smoking and physical illnesses was undeniable because of how definitively it was proven. Mental health diseases are different.
Other important considerations are that social media is a digital product that’s harming children the most. Compared to tobacco companies that marketed cigarettes out in the open, how children are being reached is vastly different.
While Big Tobacco faced allegations that their product appealed to children, they didn’t outright advertise it to them. And, over time, warning labels were added to their product, and advertising efforts became regulated.
This is where the difference between Big Tech and Big Tobacco is significant. Children don’t need to see an ad to become engaged on social media. The experience of scrolling through endless photos, videos, and reels is the hook. It’s hard to ignore, and there’s a reason for that.
Every time they’re opened, social media algorithms are learning what holds users’ attention and then delivering more of it. Videos play on their own. Notifications create a sense of urgency to repeatedly come back.
These product design features are the driving force of the addiction lawsuits against Big Tech. They’re also why parents are struggling with how to help their kids; they don’t know what’s being seen, and short of taking away their devices, it’s impossible to control.
Social Media Mental Health Lawsuits are Complex
Compared to Big Tobacco, the product liability lawsuits involving Big Tech are more complicated because the type of harm is difficult to measure.
Parents aren’t dealing with a single, visible condition. Instead, they’re seeing changes in behavior, unhealthy fixations, anxiety, depression, disrupted sleep, eating disorders, and symptoms of withdrawal.
The legal challenge matches what parents are facing: Mental health issues rarely have a single cause. It’s difficult to directly connect social media to a mental health diagnosis because there are usually several factors that cause them, making it much harder to prove in court.
However, the recent $6 million social media addiction verdict opened a door to liability in a way that the tech conglomerates couldn’t stay shielded from. Previously, cases focused on content, which allowed companies like Meta and YouTube to hide behind the legal protections related to user-generated content.
But now, social media lawsuits are taking a different legal approach by alleging defective design. Attorneys argue that the design of platforms are inherently harmful, especially for kids and teens, and that they were intentionally made this way to keep users engaged for as long as possible – regardless of the cost.
That’s not to say these cases are a slam dunk. There’s enough legal complexity in proving social media causes, or at least contributed to, the mental health issues of plaintiffs.
The Future of Social Media Litigation
Social media mental health cases are still unfolding, but the similarities between Big Tobacco and Big Tech offers some clues about what might come next.
At this point, attorneys expect that social media mental health lawsuits will continue to be filed for the foreseeable future. It’s possible we’ll see largescale settlements similar with thousands, or tens of thousands, of families, similar to what happened with tobacco companies.
But lawsuits against Big Tobacco didn’t just lead to financial settlements. They reshaped public awareness, changed how products were marketed, and forced companies to examine and be held accountable for the risks to consumers. This could eventually happen with social media.
Stronger warnings, design changes, and/ or new protections for younger users may be required. But true, lasting change will be difficult.
Social media is far more integrated into the daily life of children and teens than cigarettes ever were. They use it to communicate, learn, and socialize, making the path forward less clear.
