Social media companies on trial for addiction
March 9, 2026
Social media companies are facing courts in the US for harm caused by their addictive social media apps.
In New Mexico, Attorney General Raúl Torrez is taking action against Meta, which owns a family of social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads. Torrez has accused Meta of exposing children to ‘sexual exploitation and mental health harm’.
Among the witnesses testifying against Meta is Dr Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Stanford University, who heads the University’s Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic.
Professor Lambke told the court that social media apps have been designed to addict users, using features such as ‘infinite scroll’, notification tools and algorithms that stimulate the release of dopamine – the body’s chemical of reward.
After reviewing thousands of pages of documents from Meta, Lembke was confident that the company was aware of the social media-addiction problem.
Lembke, whose latest book ‘Dopamine Nation’ addresses the neuroscience of dopamine addiction, explained that social media affects the brain in a similar way to other addictive substances. She said that social media addiction can result in sleep problems, anxiety, depression, loneliness, sexual exploitation, self-harm and suicide.
In Los Angeles, a young woman is suing Meta and YouTube for mental health problems she developed as a result of social media addiction.
Her lawyer, Mark Lanier, told the court, ‘This case is about two of the richest corporations who have engineered addiction in children’s brains.’
There are currently close to 1500 lawsuits against social media companies in progress.
- Alexandra Koch and bonny Chu, ‘Stanford psychiatrist testifies Meta's social media platforms is designed to be addictive in NM lawsuit’
- Clare Duffy, Samantha Delouya, CNN, ‘Lawyers argue that Instagram and YouTube intentionally addicted and harmed teen in landmark social media trial’
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