US court case could have far-reaching effects for how kids engage with social media

August 20, 2026

Social media giant Meta is on trial over claims it violated child privacy laws, deliberately designing its platform to be addictive to young people. A lawyer for the State of California explained that Meta’s business model aims to “Hook the users; hold them for as long as they can; harvest their data; hide the truth from the public.”

The trial will address claims by four states acting on behalf of a group of 29 states, that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to addict young children and teenagers, resulting in such harms such as anxiety, depression and even suicide, and misled consumers about the platforms' safety.

Experts say the trial is the biggest legal test yet of social media's effects on young users and comes amid a broader reckoning across the globe over those effects.

Meta says evidence will show its “longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

The trial taking place in California is expected to last six to eight weeks and will feature testimony from Mark Zuckerberg.

The decision will determine Meta’s liability and may also order changes to Facebook and Instagram such as age restrictions and eliminating the infinite scroll that encourages users to keep looking at new posts.

The lawsuit began in 2023 and stemmed from a multi-state investigation into Instagram and Facebook's impact on young users, following testimony by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who told a US Senate committee in 2021 that Meta knew its products could harm young users and knew how to make them safer, but chose not to make changes in favour of pursuing higher profits. Ms. Haugen was featured as the EKO Spring Symposium Advance Keynote speaker last year, speaking with CHEO Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Cheng about how we can think creatively about addressing online harms for kids.

Australia introduced the world’s first outright ban on social media for kids under age 16 in December last year. Several other countries, including Canada, the UK, Norway, Denmark, and Indonesia, have moved to introduce or consider similar restrictions on youth access to tech platforms. This week the EU said it would also develop a policy for social media age restrictions in the 27-member bloc. In the U.S., a bill for a national ban on kids under 13 using social media was introduced in Congress in June 2025. It has backers on both sides of politics but has so far failed to progress and may never go to a vote.

Countries with Restrictions

Australia: Implemented a strict ban blocking youth under 16 from major networks, with tech companies facing fines up to A$49.5 million (CDN $48.73 million) for non-compliance.

Malaysia: Introduced rules requiring platforms with over eight million users to block under-16 accounts using age verification.

China: Enforces long-standing tiered age restrictions, daily screen time limits, and anti-addiction filters for young users.

France & Spain: Advanced various legislative proposals or approvals to restrict underage social media access (such as France's under-15 provisions).

Major networks impacted or targeted by these regulatory movements include TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.