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By Joanne O’Connor, Bridge2Blue
Parents and educators are fed up with Meta and other tech companies for repeatedly failing to protect kids on their platforms and for putting profits ahead of children’s safety.
More than 1,000 school districts have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it intentionally designed their social media platforms to target and addict children. Schools are seeking financial damages to cover escalating costs and to fund services that help students address their mental health needs.
Research shows that almost half of U.S. teens have experienced bullying or harassment online. Between 2010 and 2019, teen depression rates doubled, with teenage girls seeing the sharpest increase. In 2021, almost a third of girls said they had seriously considered suicide.
States Sue To Protect Children
In the first trial of its kind, Meta and Google’s YouTube were found negligent in March 2026 for designing social media platforms that harm children and were ordered to pay a combined $6 million in damages. The verdict marks an important milestone for similar lawsuits. Both companies have said they will appeal this verdict.
In a separate case, a July 2026 federal court ruling denied Meta Platforms, Inc.’s pre-trial motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2023 by a coalition of states, including Virginia, against Meta Platforms, Inc (Meta). The trial, set for August 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, will address allegations that “Meta, among other things, designed and deployed harmful features on its platforms that addict children and teens to their severe mental and physical detriment, all the while misleading the public regarding the existence and severity of these risks.”
Virginia’s Attorney General Jay Jones issued a statement outlined the importance of the Northern District of California case for the country and Virginia, “Meta put profits over the health and safety of our children. For too long, Big Tech companies have been able to leverage their excessively deep pockets and armies of lawyers to skirt accountability for their actions and harm to our communities” He continued, “the court’s ruling is a major step toward accountability and sends a clear message to Meta and other social media platforms that they are not above the law. The Commonwealth looks forward to the upcoming trial and intends to fight tirelessly to bring critical reforms that will protect the well-being of Virginians.”
A Long Time Legislative Priority
Federal lawmakers for years—even decades—made kids’ online safety legislation a priority but have failed to secure legislation. The original Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) passed the Senate in 2024 with the support of both Virginia Senators, Sen. Kaine and Sen. Warner, but stalled in the House thanks to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson caving to Meta’s lobbying efforts.
This year, as lawsuits pile up, Meta again pressured Speaker Johnson to weaken KOSA, including an outlandish request for legal immunity from child-harm claims tied to social media products. Such a provision would absolve Meta and undermine ongoing lawsuits against Meta and other tech companies.
The House passed a stripped-down version of the bill in late June 2026 now known as the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act. It did not include sweeping immunity for Meta and other tech companies from legal liability. It did, however, omit the most important provision of KOSA—”duty of care”—which requires platforms to design systems that reasonably prevent harm to children.
The bill also blocks passage of individual state-level child safety like the Northern California suit. A bipartisan coalition of 45 state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, supported KOSA and vehemently opposed the KIDS Act for this reason, warning it would “shield Big Tech companies from accountability” by preventing states from enforcing harsher local regulations.
Legislation Deadlock Leaves Accountability to States
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who co-authored KOSA with Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), stated “the House’s decision to strip out the duty of care will only maintain the status quo in which Big Tech uses our kids as profit centers and leaves parents to pick up the pieces.”
Senate sponsors have declared this House package “dead” in the upper chamber, leaving the legislation’s final passage in limbo once again.
For now, in the absence of federal legislation, states and school districts remain free to seek accountability from social media giants for the harm they cause children.
It is important that we retain the power to keep these big tech companies accountable for the harm they are doing to children, deny them legislation that would absolve them from the legal consequences of their actions, and protect the ability of plaintiffs to pursue child-harm claims tied to social media products.
