Social media is designed to be addictive, jury finds. Research links excessive use to mental harm Skip to content Subscribe today Every print subscription comes with full digital access Subscribe Now Menu All Topics Health Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology View All Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes View All Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment View All Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics View All Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology View All Magazine Menu All Stories Multimedia Reviews Puzzles Collections Educator Portal Century of Science Unsung characters Coronavirus Outbreak Newsletters Investors Lab About SN Explores Our Store SIGN IN Donate Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 SIGN IN Search Open search Close search Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 All Topics Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology Tech Computing Artificial Intelligence Chemistry Math Science & Society All Topics Health Humans Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Recent posts in Humans Paleontology Early apes may not have evolved in East Africa By Jake BuehlerMarch 26, 2026 Science & Society Social media can be addictive, a jury finds. 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Brown/AFP/Getty Images By Sujata Gupta March 26, 2026 at 11:08 am Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print Social media is designed to be addictive, jurors in a landmark trial against two of the largest social media companies have found. Research in recent years has increasingly suggested a causal link between teen social media use and psychological harm. But this is the first time that link has been upheld in court. On March 25, jurors in a California state civil trial found Meta and Google liable for designing social media apps that can hook young users. The case centered around a 20-year-old woman identified as Kaley, or KGM. KGM’s lawyers argued that she began using social media platforms, including YouTube, owned by Google, and Instagram, owned by Meta, during elementary school, eventually spending up to 16 hours a day on Instagram alone. The lawsuit alleged that KGM’s self-worth became tied up with likes and follower counts. That social media addiction, in turn, caused numerous mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. The legal battle focused on the design of the social media platforms and not the content of posts. The plaintiff’s lawyers argued that tech companies knowingly engineered their products for addiction by building in features that keep people, particularly vulnerable children and teens, coming back for more. Those features include the ability to scroll endlessly, or infinite scroll, algorithms that deliver curated content, short video clips and push notifications. The tech companies countered that scientists have not established a causal link between social media use and psychological harm and that KGM’s tumultuous childhood, not her social media use, caused her mental health problems. Lawyers for YouTube also argued that the online video sharing platform was not a social media company. Both companies said they are exploring legal options, including appealing the decision. But this verdict is expected to set a precedent for other similar cases in the works. We are in the midst of a youth mental health crisis, says pediatrician Jason Nagata of the University of California, San Francisco. And social media design, while not the sole cause of teens’ poor health, is a problem that can be fixed. “I think [the verdict] is a step in the right direction,” he says. Science News spoke with Nagata to understand the societal implications of this verdict. His research with over 8,000 children ages 11 and 12 found that those preteens showing signs of social media addiction, including obsessively thinking about social media and difficulty logging off, struggled with more mental health problems a year later than children without those signs. The findings appear in the April 2026 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. SN: What makes these platforms’ design features so alluring to young users? Nagata: We know that teenagers are going through lots of brai
Social media can be addictive, a jury finds. Research hints at a link
