Social Media Harm Lawsuit Set To Go Before California Jury in Jan. 2026

Originally scheduled to begin in November 2025, the start of the first bellwether trial has been delayed amid new evidence linking social media harm suffered by the plaintiff to incidents of sexual predation.

Lawyers involved in addiction and mental health lawsuits being pursued against the developers of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms will meet with the federal judge presiding over the litigation tomorrow, indicating that the start of a California state court trial previously scheduled to begin next month has been pushed back to early 2026.

The trial was highly anticipated and being closely watched to help gauge how juries may respond to evidence and testimony that may be repeated throughout a growing number of social media harm lawsuits being pursued against Google, Meta and other major platforms.

The lawsuits accuse the platforms of using data collection tools and engagement-driven algorithms that intentionally promote compulsive use among children and teens, contributing to widespread mental health, developmental and behavioral issues.

At the federal level, the litigation is centralized before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California, where a multidistrict litigation (MDL) has been established to coordinated pretrial proceedings. However, the first bellwether trial is expected to begin in California state courts, where many of the tech companies are headquartered, and a separate group of cases are consolidated before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl.

Both judges are leading the parties through coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings, and have planned to hold early test cases, known as “bellwether” trials.

Though the results of these trials will not be binding on the other claims, these test cases will be closely watched by lawyers on both sides, with the first social media harm trial scheduled to be held in California state court under Judge Kuhl.

The claim, filed by Heaven Moore, was originally scheduled to go to trial on November 17. However, late last week, the parties involved in federal litigation released an agenda and joint statement (PDF) ahead of a case management conference scheduled for October 24, announcing that the California state trial had been delayed.

According to the statement, the parties and the judge deemed the delay was necessary after the rise of new allegations linked to sexual predation and assault suffered by Moore when she was a teenager.

The new allegations require more discovery proceedings in that case, and the likelihood of new motion filings, the parties indicate. This led to Judge Kuhl deciding to change the order of the bellwether trials.

The first trial will now involve claims by a plaintiff identified only as K.G.M., which will begin jury selection on January 27, 2026. The second trial, involving claims by R.K.C. is set for April 13, 2026, and Judge Kuhl rescheduled Moore’s claim to go before a jury on June 8, 2026.

Judge Kuhl ordered the parties to prepare to present proposals for verdict forms and jury instructions by November 21. She will hear arguments on the proposals on December 12.

Federal Social Media Harm Lawsuits

Last month, Judge Rogers announced the selection of six different school district claims to be the first federal social media harm lawsuits to go to trial. However, plaintiffs and defendants submitted competing proposals on the order in which the bellwether trials should proceed.

Plaintiffs want a lawsuit filed by the Tucson school district to go first, because it is trial ready and includes key claims that will be repeated throughout the litigation. However, defendants are asking that a lawsuit by the Irvington school district, the smallest of the six districts, goes first, claiming it is closer in size to most school district lawsuits filed and thus will give a more realistic view of the average jury verdict.

If, after state and federal bellwether trials have concluded, the parties have not reached a settlement agreement or other resolution, Judge Rogers will begin remanding the cases back to their originating federal district for individual trial dates.

Sign up for more legal news that could affect you or your family.