Social Media Suicide Lawsuit

The Goldwater Law Firm Co-Counsel Is Accepting Social Media Suicide Cases

The Goldwater Law Firm is an award-winning firm with a strong track record of winning cases and getting results. Our name and reputation are well-known nationwide. Our law firm partners have the knowledge, experience, skills, and resources to file your case, navigate the mass tort, and hold the tech companies responsible for their dangerous apps.

If you are a young adult who developed a serious mental health concern—including suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, or self-harm—or a family whose child attempted or committed suicide following excessive use of social media, we understand that you are likely frustrated and angry. Those who developed social media platforms failed in their responsibility to keep users safe from harm, especially minors.

Our co-counsel handles these cases and helps you recover compensation while holding the liable parties accountable. These corporations should not continue to profit from these dangerous apps, products, and services while you struggle to understand what has happened to your family. Our co-counsel handles these cases with no upfront costs to you.

What Is the Basis of the Social Media Suicide Lawsuits?

Our co-counsel is currently accepting cases for social media lawsuits. We represent individuals and families who suffered painful losses and mental health struggles due to social media addiction.

There have been strong ties to the excessive use of these platforms by young people and the development of several mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, self-esteem issues, and suicidal thoughts.

The lawsuits we are filing accuse the technology companies of being negligent in developing, managing, and marketing social media platforms. There is mounting evidence that they failed to consider the potentially harmful effects on user’s mental health, especially that of their more vulnerable users. This absence of built-in safeguards contributes to significant mental health concerns for this audience.

The mass tort based on social media addiction and mental health names several tech companies and their social media platforms as defendants. This includes:

• Facebook (Meta Platforms, Inc.)
• Instagram (Meta Platforms, Inc.)
• TikTok (ByteDance)
• Snapchat (Snap Inc.)
• YouTube (Alphabet Inc.)
• Google (Alphabet Inc.)

To be successful with a social media harm lawsuit and hold these companies accountable for the mental health struggles, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, and suicides committed by young users, plaintiffs must show:

• These companies failed to ensure that these platforms were a safe space for young users
• A clear causal relationship between the young person’s excessive or obsessive social media use and the development of an eating disorder, body dysmorphia, depression, the desire to self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or attempting suicide.

There is a wealth of evidence available through numerous studies and research that ties social media addiction to suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, and other mental health concerns, such as body image issues, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia.

One study published in PLOS Mental Health documents neural network changes following excessive social media engagement using MRIs of the brain. This shows links to not only mental health concerns but also behavioral changes. This could indicate that social media addiction plays a role in reduced cognitive thinking and loss of impulse control, too. Both of these could contribute to self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or attempts.

Our co-counsel strongly believes that the companies behind these social media platforms acted negligently by knowingly adding addictive features and difficult-to-stop interfaces that make it hard for young people to stop a social media addiction from taking over their lives. If you believe social media addiction affects your family, contact our team today to learn more during a free consultation.

Damages Recoverable in a Social Media Suicide Lawsuit

When you file a wrongful death or personal injury case based on social media addiction and suicidal thoughts, you are fighting for compensation for your expenses and losses and accountability from the social media platform. How much you might recover is unique to your case. Our co-counsel can help you pursue the compensation you need based on your expenses and losses, both economic and non-economic.

Some categories of relief that might be available include:

Compensatory Damages

This is money for the expenses and losses you and your family endured. It could include medical care for mental health concerns or physical injuries, time missed at work, lost educational opportunities, and more. It also includes non-economic “pain and suffering” damages.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are rare but could be available to some families filing social media suicide lawsuits. These damages punish the social media companies and attempt to curb the likelihood of continued bad behavior. They are only awarded in cases where the damage was intentional or particularly egregious.

Injunctive Relief

Injunctive relief is not compensation. Instead, it is an action demanded of the defendant as a part of the case settlement or verdict. It could include requiring that social media companies add safeguards for young users, offer ways to help when a user reports suicidal thoughts, or take other specific actions.

How The Goldwater Law Firm Handles Social Media Suicide Litigation

At the Goldwater Law Firm, our law firm partners understand the challenges of building a case based on social media addiction and suicide. We stay up to date on the latest research into social media and mental health in young people and ensure we have the data from the most current and relevant studies. Building a compelling case based on a young person’s suicidal ideation and thoughts is challenging.

However, our co-counsel has established partnerships with psychological, medical, and industry experts. These experts could play a crucial role in linking excessive social media use with mental health issues that could threaten lives.

When you work with our co-counsel to file a social media suicide lawsuit, your attorney will:

• Review your case facts with you to learn as much as possible
• Identify the defendants, typically tech or social media companies, in your case
• Document your recoverable damages
• Gather evidence to support a compelling claim
• Navigate the claims process and represent your best interests
• Pursue a fair settlement when possible
• Take your case to trial if necessary to recover fair compensation

Our co-counsel is now representing social media suicide lawsuit plaintiffs in all 50 states. If you lost a son or daughter to suicide, your teen attempted suicide, or you experienced suicidal thoughts or other mental health issues and believe excessive social media app use might be to blame, contact us today for a free consultation.

Multidistrict Litigation and Social Media Suicide Lawsuits

Hundreds of plaintiffs are filing social media addiction lawsuits across the country. Some of them involve suicide or suicidal thoughts. Others involve other serious mental health issues, such as self-harm, body dysmorphia, and eating disorders. Because of the large number of these lawsuits, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) opted to consolidate them into a mass tort.

An MDL combines many separate cases into one single case to coordinate pre-trial hearings, discovery, and several bellwether trials. This allows the plaintiffs to share resources and spend less money to build a compelling case. As of July 1, 2024, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation showed 499 lawsuits in MDL 3047 IN RE: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation.

The Panel charged Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California with overseeing this case and guiding it through the MDL process. So far, pre-trial motions and discovery continue. The sides have already selected bellwether cases, and the first trial could begin in October 2025.

Can I File a Social Media Suicide Lawsuit?

Even though the MDL is already underway, individuals and families can still pursue a case. If you file a social media suicide lawsuit today, you can still participate in the pending mass tort. However, this will not always be the case. It is important to act quickly so you do not miss any key deadlines in your case.