20-Year-Old Testifies Social Media Addiction Started at Age 6

A 20-year-old woman told a Los Angeles court Thursday that social media platforms intentionally made her addicted as a child, leading to years of mental health struggles and self-harm.

Kaley, who's referred to by first name only in court, filed the lawsuit alongside her mother against YouTube and Meta, the company that owns Instagram. The suit claims both platforms designed their apps to be addictive and harmful to young users.

Kaley says she started watching YouTube when she was six years old and posted her first video at eight. She was soon staying up late and cutting class to scroll through YouTube and Instagram. YouTube's autoplay feature kept her on the app for hours at a time, where she experienced bullying, she testified. That spiraled into mental health challenges and self-harm. She says Instagram's filters led to body dysmorphia.

Both companies have denied the claims. Meta says Kaley's difficult childhood caused her mental health challenges, not social media. Both platforms say they've invested heavily in safety features for teen users and parental controls—though many of those features weren't in place when Kaley began using the platforms 14 years ago.

Kaley's case is one of thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies. TikTok and Snap were originally part of her lawsuit but reached settlements.