Meta knows how bad its sites are for kids, say lawyers

Is Meta acting like a tobacco company denying cigarettes cause cancer, or an oil giant downplaying climate science? Lawyers in a recent court filing claim the social media titan buried internal research for years suggesting its platforms can harm children's mental health.

Lawyers representing plaintiffs in 1,464 lawsuits (as of early 2025) consolidated in the federal social-media child-safety multidistrict litigation filed a whopper of a document in a California court Friday - a 235-page omnibus response [PDF] opposing the defendants' motions for summary judgment.

Those suits are part of MDL No. 3047 in the Northern District of California, which includes cases against Meta, Google/YouTube, Snap, and TikTok.

School districts, parents, and state Attorneys General have been battling the social-media giants, and Friday's omnibus filing is the latest salvo. It argues there's ample internal evidence, much of it buried in sealed exhibits, showing Meta was well aware ...