Social Media's 'Big Tobacco' Moment?

In March, the social media industry was dealt two stunning blows in court.

On Tuesday, March 24, 2026, a New Mexico jury found Meta willfully violated the state’s consumer protection laws by failing to safeguard users from online predators, endangering children, and making misleading statements to the public about the safety of its platforms. The jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.

Just one day later, on March 25th, a California jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in implementing design features that made their apps addictive and for failure to warn of the dangers of using their platforms. The jury ordered $3 million in compensatory damages assigning 70% responsibility to Meta and 30% to YouTube.

In the New Mexico case, the state argued Meta’s implementation of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for its Facebook Messenger service “would make its platforms less safe by preventing [Meta] from detecting and reporting child sexual exploitation and the solicitation and distribution of child exploitation images sent in encrypted messages.” Internal messages from Meta showed employee expressing concerns that millions of child sexual abuse material reports would no longer be disclosed after the implementation of E2EE on Facebook Messenger. One employee noted that it was like the company “put a big rug down to cover the rocks.”

The California case focused on claims that these companies deliberately designed their platforms with addictive features that keep young users hooked and damage their well-being. The plaintiff alleged Meta and YouTube’s negligence played a “substantial factor” in plaintiff’s continuing mental decline due to near-constant use of the apps and the constant app notifications.

Many experts have referred to these cases as social media’s “Big Tobacco” moment, referring to the 1990s when tobacco companies had to pay billions of dollars for lying to the public about the safety and potential harms of their products. Across the country, thousands of lawsuits have been filed against major social media companies. Allegations in these cases range from addictive game design to child endangerment to misleading the public.

One case to watch is a federal trial set to begin this summer in the Northern District of California. This case consolidates claims by school districts and parents nationwide and alleges apps from Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap helped foster detrimental mental health-related harms to children and teens.