Meta, TikTok Likely to Face Summer Trial in Schools’ Suits (1)

Meta Platforms Inc., TikTok Inc., Snap Inc., and YouTube LLC appear unlikely to completely knock out a group of federal cases set for trial this summer that allege the platforms harmed the mental health of students and strained school resources.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers at a marathon hearing Monday in Oakland, Calif., federal court said the public school districts have provided a “reasonable articulation” of how social media features like SnapChat’s “streaks” or Instagram’s beautification image filter cause specific harm to students and schools.

The question of causality is “the classic dispute of material fact” that a jury must sort out, Rogers said.

“Why would we not let the jury decide those things?”

She didn’t issue a ruling at the hearing, which lasted almost seven hours, but she set a June 15 trial date that would come into play if she denies the social media firms’ motion for summary judgment. Breathitt County School District, located in rural eastern Kentucky, would be the first of six bellwether cases to go to trial.

Rogers, who sits on the US District Court for the Northern District of California, is overseeing a sweeping multidistrict litigation case composed of thousands of social media addiction lawsuits filed across the country and consolidated under one docket.

The lawsuits have been filed by both school districts as well as parents and children who claim mental health harms from social media. Rogers is also overseeing a case against Meta brought by over a dozen state attorneys general over harm to children.

The Monday hearing comes the day before a state court in Los Angeles is set to begin its first bellwether trial against the same social media companies over claims that their platforms have a teenage girl’s depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems. That case will focus on plaintiffs located in California under that state’s law.

So-called bellwethers are selected by the court as representative cases that first proceed to trial to help parties develop a sense of future cases and shape wider settlement negotiations.

The school districts’ seemingly plausible path to trial didn’t come without Rogers’ criticisms. The judge previously ruled that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that provides broad legal immunity to internet platforms, barred any legal claims that come from the content that users post on the platforms.

She warned that the school districts may have to cut down on any evidence or exhibits that speak to the harm caused by social media content instead of the features and algorithms created by the platforms.

The judge was also skeptical of the school district’s request to allow a post-trial plan that would provide $60 million in funds for new school mental health programs, which would be separate from other damages the jury finds.

“I’m not sure you get that,” Rogers said. “I’m not sure how that’s not considered double dipping.”

The case is In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, N.D. Cal., No. 4:22-md-03047, 1/26/26.