Social media adolescent addiction claim eligibility for injured consumers

The end of immunity: social media and teen addiction

For much of the internet’s rise, the social media giants had a "get out of jail free" card. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, companies such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook are protected from liability for content posted on their platforms, arguing they were just a "digital bulletin board" - meaning they weren't responsible if someone posted something harmful.

The MDL 3047 litigation is putting an end to social media's total immunity. The law is no longer looking only at the content being shared on these platforms; it is looking at the product's design itself and the harm embedded in it. Courts are treating these claims as classic design-defect cases, asking whether foreseeable harm outweighs the design's utility and whether safer alternatives were available. In other words, lawyers will no longer target companies for the videos or messages; they will instead blame them for the app's features.

The court has ruled that features like "Infinite Scroll" and late-night notifications are not just tools for sharing or displaying content - they are functional design choices, addiction-inducing traps that cause injury and give rise to liability.

Which features make social media companies liable for harm to users

The strength of the current lawsuit lies in four specific features that have survived motions to dismiss. Under the Product-vs-Platform distinction, courts treat these features not as neutral tools for communication, but as defective designs engineered to exploit the adolescent brain, which is vulnerable due to underdeveloped impulse control:

• Algorithmic Intermittent Reinforcement or the "Slot Machine Effect": The "pull-down refresh" function is neurologically identical to a slot machine; it provides a variable reward that triggers dopamine loops, making it very difficult for a teenager’s developing brain to stop.
• The removal of "Stopping Cues": The human brain needs clear signals, or 'natural breaks,' to stop an activity - like the end of a song or a game. Infinite Scroll and Autoplay were designed to remove these signals, leading to "behavioral addiction" and chronic sleep deprivation.
• Late-night Notification Architecture: Sending intrusive alerts during the vulnerable hours (1 AM-4 AM) is not a social choice; it’s an engineering choice. Their use directly correlates with the exacerbation of clinical anxiety and depressive disorders.
• Easy sign-up for minors: Making it very easy for minors to open accounts without proper age checks is considered a failure in safety engineering by the courts.

From screen time to clinical injury, linking app features to diagnosable conditions 

To qualify for the current litigation, claims must show more than just "too much phone time" - they require evidence of actual medical harm. The courts are prioritizing cases where the platform’s design led directly to:

1. Clinical Diagnoses: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
2. Eating Disorders: Anorexia, Bulimia, or binge eating caused by how the app’s design is driving users to compare with others
3. Self-harm & Suicidality: Incidents of self-injurious behaviors or suicidal ideations that necessitated urgent medical intervention
4. Institutional or Ongoing Treatment: Hospitalization, residential treatment, or long-term medication usage related to mental health issues

The 2025 turning point in social media liability

We are now entering the bellwether phase, where early trials will gauge how juries react to the evidence. Already, documents have emerged showing that these platforms were well aware that their design choices could cause harm, yet they proceeded anyway. As trial dates have been set for later this year, the focus has moved from whether these companies are liable to how much they may have to pay.

The logic is simple: if you build a product that is designed to be addictive, you are responsible for the damage that addiction causes. Going forward, intake teams must gather evidence linking a user's psychological injury directly to the platform's specific design features.

Atraxia Law can help you file a social media addiction claim

The window of opportunity for strategic entry into the social media litigation is narrowing. As the first bellwether trials of 2026 approach, the priority has moved from questions of liability to victim compensation. If your child has been diagnosed with an eating disorder, major depression, or has required medical intervention due to these platforms' addictive design features, it’s important to be aware of filing deadlines if you wish to secure eligibility.

At Atraxia Law, we specialize in the rigorous clinical screening of medical records required to build a winning case. We assess your claim’s merits and refer you to a premier litigation attorney prepared to represent you in a major MDL against Big Tech.