DELAWARE — The families of four teenagers who died by suicide filed a lawsuit against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube in the Superior Court of Delaware on July 30, 2026. The complaint alleges the platforms caused harm through addictive design and a lack of safety warnings.

The Social Media Victims Law Center filed the complaint on behalf of families from Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota and Tennessee. Livi Castro died at age 13, Riv Kelleher at 14, Nathaniel Chambers at 17 and Dawson Holden at 18. The four teenagers died between July 2024 and September 2025.

The complaint alleges the teens experienced social media addiction, severe sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation after years of using the platforms. It further alleges the social media companies knew they were causing harm to young users.

Matthew Bergman is the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center. "These platforms continue to kill kids, despite the platitudes of their executives," Bergman said. "This is a clear and present danger to the health and safety of children, not just in the United States but around the world."

Bergman stated that social media companies' actions have eroded public trust, misled policymakers, and created a national youth mental health crisis that has already cost us a generation and will take years to repair.

Sacha Haworth is the executive director of The Tech Oversight Project. "While Congress has dragged its feet, more children have died," Haworth said. She added that Livi, Nathaniel, Dawson, and Riv’s stories are proof that Big Tech companies continue to lie about the safety of their products, choosing instead to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into false advertising, deceptive paid partnerships with trusted education programs and political lobbying.

A spokesperson for Google, which owns YouTube, stated that providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to their work. The spokesperson noted that in collaboration with mental health and parenting experts, the company has built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. "We send our deepest sympathies to the families and are reviewing the claims in this lawsuit," the spokesperson said. Representatives for Meta, TikTok and Snap did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit.

Meta is on trial in Tennessee for a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general alleging the company designed Instagram to be addictive to young people without warning them of dangers. Meta is also scheduled for trial in August in federal court in Oakland, California, in a lawsuit filed by multiple states in 2023. The 2023 multi-state lawsuit against Meta alleges the company contributed to the youth mental health crisis by designing addictive features and violated federal law by collecting data on children under 13 without parental consent.

In May, a jury held Meta and YouTube liable for creating products that led to harmful and addictive behavior by young users. Financially, Meta reported $2.4 billion in legal expenses in the second quarter. The company also reported a 14% profit decline in the second quarter.

The Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act two years before the lawsuit was filed. The House of Representatives has not voted on the version of the Kids Online Safety Act passed by the Senate, and the House and Senate are currently disagreeing on key provisions.

Why It Matters

This lawsuit adds to a series of legal challenges alleging that major social media platforms designed addictive features causing harm to young users, following a recent jury verdict holding Meta and YouTube liable for similar claims. The filing occurs while federal legislation aimed at online child safety remains stalled in Congress despite prior Senate approval. These combined legal and legislative pressures coincide with reported increases in legal expenses and profit declines for the companies involved.