In March 2026, juries in 2 US states delivered verdicts that policymakers and the technology sector should not ignore. In California, a jury found Meta and Google liable for a young woman’s depression and suicidality after concluding that Instagram and YouTube users were inadequately warned about risk. In New Mexico, a separate jury found Meta liable for misleading users about the safety of its products for young people and enabling child sexual exploitation. These rulings will likely be appealed and do not settle ongoing scientific debates about the effect of digital technology on youth mental health. However, they also illustrate a policy reality: litigation can expose emerging harms and catalyze regulation, but it is necessarily retrospective, case specific, and slow relative to youth uptake of consumer technologies.
While debates about the mental health harms of social media design continue, general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have rapidly entered young people’s lives. Pew survey data collected in 2025 indicate that 64% of US teens report using AI chatbots, including approximately 3 in 10 who do so daily. Although most AI chatbot use is for practical tasks, 16% report engaging in social conversations with chatbots, and 19% report using chatbots for mental health advice.
