The Los Angeles County Superior Court has denied the overwhelming majority of defendants’ motions to exclude expert testimony under the Sargon standard, marking a major victory for plaintiffs in the coordinated social media addiction litigation. This ruling clears the way for plaintiffs to present robust scientific evidence at trial regarding the mental health harms caused by the design and operation of social media platforms.
The Social Media Cases (JCCP5255) litigation involves claims brought by individuals, including minors and their families, against Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Snap Inc. (Snapchat), ByteDance (TikTok), and Google (YouTube), alleging that the platforms’ addictive design features have contributed to a youth mental health crisis.
Why This Ruling Matters
In a comprehensive 87-page ruling, Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl rejected the defendants’ efforts to disqualify all of the plaintiffs’ general causation experts, including leading researchers in psychiatry, neuroscience, pediatrics, and media psychology. The Court found that:
- All but one of Plaintiffs’ general causation experts will be permitted to testify at trial;
- Plaintiffs’ experts employed reliable methodologies, including systematic literature reviews, longitudinal studies, and Bradford Hill analyses;
- The experts’ opinions were not barred by Section 230, as they focused on platform design features rather than third-party content;
- The experts’ conclusions were grounded in accepted scientific principles and supported by peer-reviewed research and internal documents from the Defendants themselves.
“This ruling affirms the strength of the scientific evidence supporting our claims,” said Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel. “The Court recognized that social media platforms are not just passive conduits of content—they are engineered environments that can profoundly affect adolescent brain development and harm mental health.”
What’s Next?
This ruling marks a pivotal moment in the Social Media Cases litigation, allowing plaintiffs to move forward with compelling expert testimony on how social media design features contribute to addiction, anxiety, depression, and other harms among youth. The first personal injury trial is currently set for November 2025.
Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP is proud to be leading the fight for plaintiffs in this litigation. Firm attorneys have decades of experience standing up to some of the largest corporations in the country who put their profits over the health and safety of the people they serve.
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