The personal injury lawsuits against Meta are moving forward in two places: a federal multidistrict litigation in Northern California and a coordinated proceeding in Los Angeles Superior Court. Each family files its own claim, and the courts handle the cases together for pretrial rulings and test trials.
The Federal MDL
On October 6, 2022, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized the federal cases in the Northern District of California as MDL No. 3047, In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. The panel identified common questions about whether Facebook and Instagram encourage addictive behavior, fail to verify users’ ages and fail to guard against harmful content.
The MDL started with 28 cases. As of October 1, 2026, 3,824 cases were pending against Meta, TikTok, Snap and Google. The MDL includes personal injury claims, claims by school districts and local governments, and the case brought by state attorneys general.
Key Rulings
- November 14, 2023: The court rejected the companies’ argument that federal law gives them blanket immunity. Claims over weak age verification, ineffective parental controls, the lack of time limits, barriers to deleting accounts, appearance-altering filters and failure to warn were allowed to proceed. Claims aimed at feeds and recommendation algorithms were limited by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
- October 15, 2024: The court largely allowed the state attorneys general’s consumer protection and children’s privacy claims against Meta to proceed.
- August 10, 2026: The Ninth Circuit dismissed Meta’s and TikTok’s early appeals, holding that Section 230 is a defense to liability rather than immunity from being sued. The cases continue in the trial court.
The California Coordinated Cases
Cases filed in California state court are coordinated in Los Angeles as the Social Media Cases, JCCP No. 5255, before Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl. Reuters reported more than 3,300 personal injury cases there in August 2026.
- October 13, 2023: Judge Kuhl allowed the negligence claims to proceed, finding that claims based on the apps’ design features are not barred by Section 230 or the First Amendment. She dismissed the product liability counts, ruling that the platforms are not tangible products.
- November 5, 2025: Judge Kuhl denied Meta’s request for summary judgment in the first bellwether case, sending the negligence and failure-to-warn claims to a jury.
- March 25, 2026: The jury in that case returned the first verdict against Meta. See Meta trials.
How a Family’s Claim Fits In
A new claim is filed in one of the two proceedings and joins the cases already there. Bellwether trials test the evidence before juries, and their results often shape settlement talks. Filing a claim does not require a trip to California, and young plaintiffs have been identified in court by their initials.
A young person may have a claim if they became addicted to the app before age 18, are now 25 or younger, used it heavily (typically three or more hours a day), and were diagnosed and treated for depression, severe anxiety, an eating disorder, body dysmorphia, self-harm, suicidal thoughts or a suicide attempt. Families who lost a child to suicide at age 21 or younger may have a wrongful death claim.
Common Questions
Is the Meta litigation a class action?
No. Each young person files an individual claim, and compensation depends on that person’s own injuries.
Which court would my claim be filed in?
It depends on where you live and other factors. Claims are filed either in the federal MDL in Northern California or in the coordinated California state court proceeding in Los Angeles.
How many cases are pending?
As of October 1, 2026, 3,824 cases were pending in the federal MDL, and Reuters reported more than 3,300 personal injury cases in the California proceeding in August 2026.
Does Section 230 protect Meta?
Not completely. Courts have limited claims aimed at feeds and algorithms, but claims about Meta’s own design choices, such as age verification, parental controls and filters, and its failure to warn are moving forward.