About the Instagram Addiction Lawsuits : Injuries to Children and Teens
Instagram addiction lawsuits allege Meta intentionally engineered addictive algorithms at the expense of children’s mental health.
In March, a jury awarded $6 million to a young woman harmed by Instagram and YouTube–the first case that went to trial.
We represent over 500 families nationwide. Our attorneys Andre Mura, Michael Weinkowitz, and Steve Lopez have been court-appointed to the leadership teams overseeing thousands of social media addiction lawsuits. Some cases set for trial have already settled. Time may be limited to file your Instagram lawsuit.
Speak to our experienced social media addiction lawyers today for a free, confidential consultation to see if your family qualifies for financial compensation.
These lawsuits seek compensation for conditions linked to excessive use, including:
Self-harm
Depression
Suicidal Ideation
Anxiety
Body Dysmorphia
Eating Disorders
Suicide
Gibbs Mura, A Law Group, represents more than 500 families whose children were harmed by social media. Our trauma-informed lawyers help parents protect their children and navigate the legal process.
Learn the Facts
What impact does Instagram have on children and young adults?
Meta’s own internal research – leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen – shows that they have known since 2018 that Instagram harms teens.
Instagram makes body image issues worse for 1 in 3 teen girls. They know it.
Frances Haugen, Meta Whistleblower
Meta’s research found that young girls who spend over an hour a day on Instagram are more likely to report suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
About 1 in 8 teens use Instagram almost constantly.
Pew Research Center report (Aug. 2022)
Additionally, the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics found that increased use of social media, particularly Instagram, was associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety among young people.
Get Legal Help for Your Family
We represent thousands of families who are holding social media companies responsible.
Frances Haugen’s 2021 disclosures were only the beginning. In 2026, internal Meta documents came to light in court, including in the multistate case that ended in a $17 billion settlement and in documents Meta had initially withheld as privileged. Some had never been seen publicly before. Others, like a safety engineer’s warning to Mark Zuckerberg, were confirmed under oath before a jury. Together, they show that Meta’s own employees raised alarms about harm to teens on Instagram, sometimes all the way to the top.
Meta’s Research Compared Instagram’s Hold on Teens to Drug Addiction
An internal Instagram strategy presentation drew the comparison in Meta’s own words:
“Teen brains are much more sensitive to dopamine, one of the reasons that the risk of drug addiction is higher for adolescents and keeps them scrolling and scrolling.”
–Internal Instagram strategy presentation
The same presentation acknowledged that teens were unhappy with how much time they spent on the app. Elsewhere, it noted that likes, comments, follows and notifications “encourage teens to continue engaging and keep coming back to the app.”
A Meta Safety Engineer Warned Mark Zuckerberg About His Own Daughter
On October 5, 2021, the day Frances Haugen testified before the U.S. Senate, longtime Meta safety engineer Arturo Bejar emailed CEO Mark Zuckerberg, then-Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri. He described what his 16-year-old daughter faced on Instagram. A sexist comment on her post did not violate Meta’s rules, so the only tools available were deleting it or blocking the commenter. She had also been receiving unsolicited explicit images since she was 14.
He also sent them Meta’s own data:
“51% of Instagram users say ‘yes’ to having had a bad or harmful experience in the last 7 days. Out of those 1% of reportand of those 2% have the content taken down.”
–Arturo Bejar, email to Meta leadership
In 2026, Bejar testified before a federal jury that Zuckerberg never responded.
Employees Were Told to Keep Self-Harm Data Away from Executives
Internal chat logs from July 2023 show Instagram employees revising a safety presentation before senior leaders reviewed it. One employee noted that a Meta measure for suicide, self-injury and eating-disorder issues (“SSI/ED prevalence”) was about 2.5 times higher for teens than for adults.
Another employee objected, saying, “at this point I feel we are intentionally omitting stats that could help them properly assess the situation.” The employee went on to speculate, “If I had to guess, they don’t want a paper trail tracing this back to information visually presented to leaders that may have to testify.”
Meta fought to keep records like these out of public view. After the judge in the multistate trial ordered Meta to unseal a document showing that its in-house lawyers had removed teen-harm data from a presentation to limit the Instagram CEO’s legal exposure, Meta settled four days into trial.
Meta Planned a “Whisper Strategy” Against a Leading Critic
In 2023, NYU professor Jonathan Haidt published evidence linking social media to a mental health crisis among teen girls. Meta employees met to plan a response. Meeting notes made public in October 2026 show that a Meta vice president’s suggested goal was to get the academic community to “disavow Haidt.” Beneath it was a single line:
“can’t co-opt them, so how do we enrage them?”
-Meta internal meeting notes, March 2023
The notes called for “a below-the-line campaign” and “a whisper strategy” instead of a public response. Around the same time, Meta’s in-house lawyers repeatedly tried to block or redesign the company’s own study of how social media affected the well-being of about 1,500 teens.
There may be more to come. Meta has agreed to re-review roughly 170,000 documents it withheld as privileged, under the oversight of an independent special master.
Meta Knew What Its Product Was Harming Kids
Features like autoplay and endless feeds were built to keep kids hooked. Get a free case review.
We’re Holding Instagram and Other Social Media Companies Accountable
We allege these documents show a company that knew its platform was harming young people and chose to protect itself instead of protecting them.
If you or your child experienced any of these illnesses or symptoms: self-harm, depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, body dysmorphia, eating disorders, or suicide, we may be able to represent you in an Instagram lawsuit seeking to recover compensation that can help with therapy, hospitalizations, and medical bills. If your child died by suicide, you may be eligible to file a legal claim for wrongful death.
Gibbs Mura is trailblazing the fight to hold Instagram accountable for the harm they have caused.
Instagram and other social media platforms claimed that they were immune from certain legal claims and argued that these lawsuits should be dismissed, but our law firm successfully argued that the lawsuits should be allowed to move forward. The federal and state court judges overseeing the case agreed, allowing the lawsuits to move forward.
Latest News on Instagram Addiction Lawsuit
In March 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta liable for negligent design that contributed to a young woman’s social media addiction and resulting harm, awarding $6 million in damages from Meta as well as YouTube. This was the first jury verdict of its kind against Meta. A Kentucky school district also reached a settlement with Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube shortly before trial.
If you believe you or your child has been harmed by Instagram addiction, our firm is here to help. Our experienced attorneys are committed to advocating for the rights of individuals and families affected by Instagram addiction.
Discussing your or your child’s physical and mental health can be incredibly tough. Contact our trauma-informed legal team to confidentially discuss the best options for you and your family. Consultation calls are entirely free and confidential.
Are these individual lawsuits or Instagram class action lawsuits?
The Instagram addiction lawsuits are not part of a class action lawsuit but are a group of individually filed cases known as a mass tort lawsuit. These are individual cases that share a common issue: individuals suffering injuries and harms from Instagram. Each person allegedly harmed by Instagram files their own individual case, but many victims share similar claims against the company.
Young adults who were harmed by Instagram are filing cases against the company.
Parents are also making their voices heard by joining the Instagram lawsuits.
You may be able to hold Instagram accountable as well.
In fact, parents recognize that it’s not their fault or their child’s fault, that they’re not alone, and that they can do something to hold Instagram accountable. They are seeking justice to ensure that no child is harmed again.
Steve litigates a wide range of complex cases, from environmental mass torts to consumer class actions. He has secured over $1 billion for his clients.
Amelia plays a crucial role on case teams representing survivors of sexual assault and parents whose children have suffered from social media addiction.
