A jury will soon decide if social media addictions are harming children. These families have already felt the pain

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta and creator of Facebook, is testifying in a courtroom Wednesday in a landmark trial about the power of social media and the “addictions” it can cause. A decision against the social media apparatus could shake the tech industry and hold it accountable for the harms that some say come from its use.

It can also bring vindication for more than 1,500 families.

Zuckerberg’s testimony in a Los Angeles courtroom is just one case. One where a 20-year-old claims she was addicted to social media and it exacerbated her depression and suicidal thoughts, her lawyers argue. But, the case hits home for the 1,600 other plaintiffs across the country, namely parents who say their children have been harmed, and in some cases, took their own lives, because of excessive social media use.

While Zuckerberg has testified to Congress to address safety concerns of young people who use his social media platforms, where he apologized to bereaved parents, this trial is the first time he is set to be questioned in front of a jury.

“This case is about two of the richest corporations in history, who have engineered addiction in children’s brains,” attorney Mark Lanier said Monday during the trial’s opening statements.

Lanier is representing the woman known as Kaley G.M. to protect her identity.

“I’m going to show you evidence that these companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children,” Lanier said in his dramatic opening statement. “And they did it on purpose.”

At the age of six, Kaley began using YouTube, owned by Google. By nine, she was on Instagram, her lawyer said. At the age of 16, Kaley was using the social media platform for “several hours a day.” The app’s addictive features led Kaley to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts, her lawyer argued. He also alleged that Kaley experienced bullying and sextortion on Instagram.

Paul Schmidt, one of Meta’s attorneys, argued in his opening statement that the tech company is not disputing Kaley’s mental health struggles, but argued the plaintiff turned to social media as a coping mechanism for a turbulent and “chaotic” home life.

Schmidt cited records of two therapists and a psychiatrist who have treated the plaintiff. “All three of them believed you can be addicted to social media,” the attorney said to the jury. “They never diagnosed Kaley with social media addiction.”

Kaley also sued TikTok and Snap, the company that owns Snapchat, but the companies settled her case before the trial began. They are still involved in hundreds more cases.

After years of being shielded by Section 230, a law that protects online platforms from legal action over its content, plaintiffs have successfully argued that Section 230 does not protect companies from liability over design features. Plaintiffs argued that features such as algorithms, notifications and infinite scrolling feeds contributed to fueling a mental health crisis among teenagers.

Wednesday’s case could reverberate in courtrooms across the country, and the companies may have to shell out billions in damages if the plaintiffs succeed.

The legal action represents the growing number of parents in the U.S. and around the world calling for tech companies to finally be held accountable.

Here, we look at some of their stories…

Annalee Schott, Colorado

Lori Schott was at the Los Angeles courthouse Monday to hear the opening arguments of Kaley’s case. “All of our kids are on our shoulders,” said the mom of Annalee Schott, who died by suicide after struggling with social media addiction.

The Colorado teenager took her own life aged 18 in 2020 after she was pulled into a dark place by content she saw online that exacerbated her depression, her family claims.

After delving through her daughter’s social media accounts, Lori Schott claimed algorithms suggested “things about anxiety, depression, suicidal content.”

The mom told The Times of London that Annalee would “obsessively” count the number of ‘likes’ on her photos, and said it “destroyed” her mental health.

“I would have parented a lot differently if I could have seen what we know now in this case,” she said.

Mason Bogard, Indiana

Joann Bogard was in the room when Zuckerberg apologized to grieving parents during a 2004 Congressional hearing. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through,” Zuckerberg told the crowd.

In 2019, Bogard’s 15-year-old son, Mason, died after taking part in a viral choking challenge she said he saw on YouTube. She said that despite putting every protection possible on his social media accounts, it wasn’t enough.

“I thought I was ahead of the game, I thought I was protecting him,” she told 14News. “But I didn’t really understand how powerful the algorithms were.”

Bogard has gone to California to lend her support to other parents taking on the tech giants in the latest legal action.

“This is just one of over 1,000 cases, and this will set the precedent for what’s coming down the road, because now, they will have to answer to so many more parents,” she added.

“We’re all doing our best as parents, but we’re fighting these trillion-dollar companies,” she told CNN.

Jordan DeMay, Michigan

Teen high school athlete Jordan DeMay died by suicide in 2022 after he was blackmailed by an international sextortion ring on Instagram.

DeMay took his own life after exchanging messages with a Nigerian man posing as a woman on the social media platform, according to a Department of Justice indictment issued at the time.

Two brothers from Nigeria – Samuel and Samson Ogoshi – were sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for their role in the scheme, and five American-based defendants were later charged in connection with the case.

DeMay’s father, John DeMay said his son’s death had completely blindsided his family, and urged every family to educate themselves on the dangers of sextortion plots.

The dad is now an advocate for Parents for Safe Online Spaces. “Big Tech companies like Meta will never prioritize our kids’ safety over their profit margins on their own volition,” the father wrote on the organization’s website. “We hope that our advocacy will compel Congress to act and rein in Big Tech to ensure that no other family has to bear the devastating loss of a precious child.”

Selena Rodriquez, Connecticut

Tammy Rodriguez sued Meta and Snap in 2022, alleging they caused her 11-year-old daughter, Selena, to develop an “extreme addiction” to social media before she killed herself in 2021.

The wrongful death lawsuit claimed that Meta and Snap’s products contained “defective design, negligence and unreasonable dangerous features.”

Rodriguez, from Enfield, Connecticut, alleged that her daughter suffered “severe mental harm, leading to physical injury,” from using the social media platforms, and tech companies failed to provide adequate safeguards from harmful and exploitative content.

Her family told ABC News that Selena would become violent and physical when her phone was taken away, and once broke her older sister Destiny’s nose in a fight.

“We definitely started noticing that she stopped interacting with us, and she was a very recluse toward the end of everything, and she just always wanted to be on the phone,” Selena’s older sister Destiny said at the time. “I think she kind of grew dependent on it.”

The companies said they could not comment during active litigation and stressed their commitment to the “wellbeing” of its users.

Englyn Roberts, California

The parents of 14-year-old Englyn Roberts sued Meta after their daughter took her own life in August 2020. They claimed she watched a video on Instagram and copied what she saw.

Unbeknownst to her parents, Englyn had been struggling with her mental health during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020. Following her death, they looked through her phone to learn more about their daughter’s state of mind leading up to the incident.

“There was video. And that video was a lady on Instagram pretending to hang herself, and that’s ultimately what our child did,” Englyn’s grieving father, Toney, told 60 Minutes in 2022. “You ask yourself, ‘how did she come up with this idea?’ And then when I did the research, there it was. She saw it on Instagram. It was on her phone.”

The video was still circulating on Instagram nearly a year and a half after Englyn’s death. It was taken down in December 2021, according to the family.

The lawsuit claimed Meta was negligent and asked for punitive damages, loss of future income, medical expenses and attorney fees.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.