Student Social Media Addiction Lawsuits Brought by School Districts Will Be First MDL Bellwether Trials

School districts say student social media addiction has cost them additional resources due to the need for counseling and other mental health services.

A federal judge has signaled that school districts’ claims will be the first to go to trial in federal court over allegations that social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram are intentionally designed to addict young users.

Thousands of student social media addiction lawsuits have been centralized as part of a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of California, where U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is presiding over pretrial proceedings for more than 1,800 claims brought by both school districts and families nationwide. 

The lawsuits accuse platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat of deploying recommendation algorithms and design features that exploit compulsive behavior in children, prioritizing user engagement and profit over safety.

While families seek compensation for the personal toll of addiction-related injuries, including increased anxiety, depression and suicidal behaviors, school districts are pursuing claims to recover the rising costs of coping with the youth mental health crisis triggered by social media addiction. 

Many schools indicate that they have been forced to divert limited resources toward expanding counseling services, crisis intervention programs and special education support, all in response to a sharp rise in mental health problems among students. The lawsuits contend that these harms were not only foreseeable, but deliberately ignored by social media platforms, which profited from the prolonged screen time.

In June, Judge Rogers identified 11 student social media addiction lawsuits for the parties to prepare for early bellwether trials, which are designed to gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be repeated throughout the litigation. Those claims are currently going through additional case-specific discovery in preparation for the first trial, which is expected to go before a jury in late 2026.

That list contained claims brought by six different school districts, as well as five separate personal injury claims brought on behalf of students or young adults. However, in a case management order (PDF) issued on August 25, Judge Rogers indicated that the first bellwether trials should involve claims brought by school districts, rather than individual injury claims.

“The school district bellwethers will be tried first. The parties shall meet and confer to determine a proposed sequence for those trials, which shall follow a ABBAAB pattern (meaning one side picks the first trial, the other side picks the next two, and so on).”

– U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers

The judge called for the parties to have the proposed sequence included in their next joint case management statement.

Judge Rogers also noted that there are cases filed by states attorneys general as well, and they have requested that their claims be the next bellwether trials, which would push the first individual trial back even further. However, she said she was “not convinced” and that the court had not yet made a determination of which cases will be tried after the school district lawsuits.

The outcomes of these bellwether trials will not be binding on the other claims in the MDL, but they will be closely watched to see how the juries weigh evidence and testimony that would likely be repeated throughout the litigation. The results may have a substantial impact on any social media addiction settlement negotiations to resolve the litigation in the coming years.

First Social Media Addiction Trial in California

In addition to the federal claims, student social media addiction lawsuits have also been filed in various state courts, primarily in California.

The state is expected to begin its first trial the week of November 24, 2025. A second state court trial is scheduled for March 9, 2026, and a third is set to begin on May 11, 2026.

The federal bellwether trials are not expected to begin until late 2026. The next federal case management conference is scheduled for October 10, 2025.

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