Social Media Negligence Lawsuits

Negligence is a legal theory that allows plaintiffs to seek compensation when they believe another party’s actions or inaction caused them harm.

In the social media mental health litigation, school districts and other plaintiffs argue that social media companies failed to meet their responsibility to protect young users from foreseeable risks associated with their platforms.

The lawsuits generally do not focus on content but on how platforms were designed and operated. To succeed in social media negligence claims, school districts must show that social media companies owed them a duty of care, failed to meet that duty and caused damages as a result.

Which social media companies are named in the social media negligence lawsuits?

School districts have filed lawsuits against the major social media companies and platforms, including:

• ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok
• Google, the parent company of YouTube
• Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram
• Snap, the parent company of Snapchat

According to the lawsuits, social media companies knew that certain platform features could contribute to excessive use and negatively affect some children and teenagers. These features exposed young people to risks such as depression, anxiety and other mental health issues.

The districts also allege that social media companies failed to make their platforms safer when they had the opportunity. As a result, rising student mental health concerns required additional counseling services, intervention efforts and other support programs that strain school resources.

Through negligence claims, school districts seek to hold social media companies accountable for these failures and recover monetary damages for the resulting harms.

School districts pursuing negligence claims argue that social media-related harms extend beyond individual users and affect schools as well. According to the lawsuits, districts have devoted significant resources to addressing student mental health concerns and other challenges they associate with social media use.

Current complaints reference:

• Compulsive use and addictive behaviors that can interfere with students’ daily lives and academic responsibilities
• Negative effects on student learning, concentration, attendance and overall school performance
• Rising student mental health needs for issues such as anxiety and depression
• Increased demand for counseling and support services
• Self-harm behaviors such as suicidal ideation and related student safety issues
• Sleep disruption and related academic and behavioral issues

Schools argue that these impacts have created measurable costs in the form of additional staff time, counseling resources and resources for intervention efforts.

Social media negligence lawsuits continue to move forward as part of the broader social media school district litigation.

In the early stages of the social media school district multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 3047), the court selected six school district lawsuits to serve as bellwether cases. Negligence claims are among the legal theories asserted in these lawsuits.

The plaintiff in the first scheduled bellwether trial was Breathitt County Board of Education in Kentucky. The plaintiff reached settlement agreements with the defendant social media companies shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin in May 2026.

Additional bellwether proceedings are expected to continue. Tucson Unified School District v. Meta Platforms, Inc., et al. and Charleston County School District v. Meta Platforms, Inc., et al. are expected to begin in February 2027.

Motley Rice attorneys are actively involved in litigation concerning the alleged harms of social media platforms on young users. Our team has experience handling complex litigation on behalf of government institutions like school districts. Our attorneys hold leadership positions in the federal social media multidistrict litigation (which includes school district, attorneys general and individual cases), the California state consolidation (JCCP) and the Attorney General of New Mexico’s state trial.

If you believe the students in your district were exposed to conditions created or worsened by social media, we may be able to help.

Read more about our social media litigation experience.