Instagram Addiction Lawsuit

Reviewed by the legal team at Estey & Bomberger, LLP · Updated November 14, 2026

Why we handle Instagram cases too

Our firm, Estey & Bomberger, LLP, focuses on TikTok. But very few kids use only one app. A teen who spends hours on TikTok often spends hours on Instagram as well, and the harm usually builds across all of them together.

The lawsuits work the same way. The federal cases against TikTok, Meta, YouTube and Snap are grouped together in one court, and the California state cases are grouped in another. So if Instagram was part of your child's story, it belongs in your case. We would rather hear about every app your child used than leave one out.

Like all of our cases, Instagram cases are handled on a contingency fee. You pay nothing unless we win.

Who is being sued

Instagram is owned by Meta Platforms, Inc., the same company that owns Facebook. Lawsuits usually name Meta Platforms and its subsidiary Instagram, LLC.

The claims are not about a single bad post or video. They focus on how the app itself was designed and on whether Meta warned families about the risks. In November 2023, the federal judge overseeing these cases ruled that claims about the platforms' own design choices, such as weak parental controls, weak age checks and no real screen-time limits, along with failure-to-warn claims, could move forward.

Instagram features the lawsuits point to

Families claim several Instagram features were built to hold young users' attention and can hurt how they feel about themselves:

• Likes and follower counts. Public numbers turn every post into a popularity score. Kids may check again and again to see how a photo is doing.
• Beauty filters. Filters can smooth skin, slim faces and change features. Seeing a filtered version of yourself, and filtered versions of everyone else, can make a real face feel "wrong."
• Explore and Reels. These feeds serve up an endless stream of content picked to keep a user watching, with no natural stopping point.
• Constant appearance comparison. A feed full of edited bodies, faces and lifestyles invites kids to measure themselves against images that are not real.
• Notifications. Alerts pull kids back into the app, including late at night.

To learn more about how these design tricks work, see how social media apps keep kids hooked.

Meta's record in court so far

Meta has faced serious results in 2026:

• March 2026: In the first social media addiction jury trial, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent and liable for failing to warn in the case of a young woman known as K.G.M. The jury awarded $6 million: $3 million in compensatory damages (70% assigned to Meta) and $3 million in punitive damages. In June 2026 the judge denied Meta's requests to throw out the verdict. The case is on appeal.
• August 2026: Eight days into a trial brought by state attorneys general, Meta agreed to a settlement worth up to about $17 billion over 10 years, plus new teen-safety defaults. Meta also settled with Texas for more than $1 billion.
• August and October 2026: New Mexico won a $942 million judgment against Meta in a child-safety case (stayed while Meta challenges it) and a separate penalty of about $25 billion in a data-practices case. Meta plans to appeal.
• October 2026: Meta settled with two families whose cases were set to be the second California trial.

These results do not predict what will happen in any one family's case. You can follow the latest on our lawsuit updates page.

Injuries linked to Instagram

Because Instagram is so focused on images and appearance, families often describe harms tied to body image and self-worth. Lawsuits connect heavy use with:

• Eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating
• Body dysmorphia
• Depression and anxiety
• Self-harm and suicidal thoughts
• Sleep loss and falling grades

Every child is different, and no one can say from a list whether a case is strong. That is what a free review is for.

How to start an Instagram case

Starting is simple, and it is free. Tell us what happened, which apps your child used, and how things changed. If your child used TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube or Facebook too, tell us about all of them.

A few things help right away: don't delete the Instagram account, write down when you noticed changes, and keep any medical, therapy or school records. Our guide on how to save evidence walks you through it.

When you're ready, request your free case review. Attorney Mike Bomberger and our team in San Diego handle cases nationwide, and there is no cost unless we win.

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