The four children named in the claim all allegedly experienced a range of harms associated with social media addiction and compulsive use, including severe sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. The lawsuit claims that the defendant companies knew that their practices came at the expense of kids’ mental health and all-around well-being.
The families of four teenagers who died by suicide have filed claims against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, with attorneys describing how “years of escalating harms” from social media led the plaintiffs’ children to take their own lives.
According to PBS, the lawsuit was filed Thursday in Delaware Superior Court. It is the latest high-profile claim filed against some of the country’s largest social media companies, which are facing a wave of allegations that platforms like Meta-owned Instagram and Google-owned YouTube were designed to be as addictive and engaging as possible.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of four families spread across five states: Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Attorneys say that each of the plaintiffs lost a child in the 14-month period falling between July 2024 and September 2025. Their ages ranged between 13 and 18. “Despite living hundreds of miles apart, their parents describe nearly identical patterns: once‑vibrant children who became anxious, withdrawn or depressed as their use of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube intensified,” said the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing the families in court.
The Social Media Victims Law Center’s founding attorney, Matthew Bergmamn, said that it’s “particularly salient” that children in the case died “long after” similar self-harm claims had been filed.
“These platforms continue to kill kids, despite the platitudes of their executives,” Bergman said in an interview. “This is a clear and present danger to the health and safety of children, not just in the United States but around the world.”
The four children named in the claim all allegedly experienced a range of harms associated with social media addiction and compulsive use, including severe sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. The lawsuit claims that the defendant companies knew that their practices came at the expense of kids’ mental health and all-around well-being.
PBS notes that a spokesperson for Google said in a statement that “providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with mental health and parenting experts, we’ve built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. We send our deepest sympathies to the families and are reviewing the claims in this lawsuit.”
Sources
Families sue Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube over deaths of 4 teens
Social media companies sued over deaths of 4 teens amid rising pressure over child safety
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