Social media companies have had a rough start to 2026. In some ways it feels like the 1990s when tobacco companies were held accountable for making Americans addicted

In January, Meta and YouTube were forced to pay a combined $6 million  in damages. The case against the social media conglomerates argued that two companies purposefully structured their platforms to be addictive. The plaintiffs argued that their addiction to these platforms caused anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, and even attempted suicide. 

One of the lawsuits came from a 20-year-old California woman who created a YouTube account when she was  eight years old and an instagram account one year later. She claimed that her access to social media at such a young age led to addiction, which in turn caused anxiety, problems with body-image, and depression. More cases like this one are expected in Los Angeles in the near future. 

Both Meta and YouTube have remained consistent in their claims that there is no link between addiction and their platforms–or technology as a whole.. However, countless studies have proved otherwise, noting that the dopamine  released when using social media makes the platforms addictive. 

In the 1990s, a similar series of trials took place. Plaintiffs argued that companies had lied about the addictiveness of their products in order to make a profit. 

In 1994, seven CEOs of the largest tobacco companies stood in court and stated they did not believe their nicotine products were addictive. This type of claim was expected from tobacco companies at the time. The tobacco industry typically used six different strategies to deny nicotine’s addictiveness. One: create different definitions of what addiction is. Two: attack individual studies to make its arguments seem weak and incorrect. Three: twist logic to criticize experiments towards those who did not understand how the experiments worked. Four: use unproven theories as evidence. Five: misrepresent data to make addiction rates appear lower. Six: rely on scientists’ use of words like “may,” “might,” or “likely” to make reports seem unreliable. 

In a landmark case filed by the U.S. Government against the Altria Group, Inc., Philip Morris USA (division of Altria), and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The U.S., the courts determined that “The Defendants engaged in a decades-long conspiracy to…(3) misrepresent the addictiveness of nicotine.” This ruling made it illegal for tobacco companies to claim their nicotine products are not addictive. 

While the social media trials certainly have their differences from the tobacco company trials of the 90s and early 2000s, it is becoming increasingly likely that the outcome could be the same. It is very possible that someday soon, social media companies may no longer be able to claim their platforms are not addictive. Another similar fate that may befall social media is a decline in its prevalence and social acceptance, much like smoking.