Two landmark court rulings against Meta have parents across America demanding legislative action to protect children from harmful social media platforms, with some calling for a complete ban on smartphones for minors until age 18.

Record Penalties Against Tech Giant

A New Mexico jury ruled Tuesday that Meta prioritized profits over child safety, ordering the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties to 37,500 users. The jury found Meta misled users and failed to protect children from sexual predators on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The following day, a Los Angeles jury sided with a 20-year-old woman who claimed Instagram and YouTube made her addicted through features like endless scrolling and autoplay, awarding $4.2 million from Meta and $1.8 million from Google. Both companies deny wrongdoing and plan appeals.

Frustrated Families Fight Back

Julie Frumin, a licensed marriage and family therapist from Westlake Village and mother of two, shed tears of joy hearing the verdicts. She has witnessed firsthand how social media platforms damage teenagers’ attention spans, self-esteem, and family relationships. Frumin keeps her 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son off phones and social media entirely. A Bronx mother went further, telling reporters that phones should be illegal for kids until 18, noting that teenagers act irrationally when parents attempt to remove devices.

Watershed Moment For Child Safety

Deb Schmill, founding member of ParentsSOS, who lost her 18-year-old daughter to fentanyl poisoning from drugs purchased through social media, called the verdicts a watershed moment. Schmill helped craft phone-free school legislation in Massachusetts and declared the court victories a major first step toward ending a public health crisis. A Manhattan nurse with three daughters expressed hope the rulings would raise awareness among parents who fail to understand screen dangers and push lawmakers to raise the legal age for social media access.

What This Means

The back-to-back verdicts represent the first major legal accountability for tech companies amid growing lawsuits nationwide over child safety on social platforms. Parents argue that when all children have smartphones and social media access, individual families face impossible pressure to conform, making legislative action necessary. The cases could encourage state lawmakers to pass stricter age requirements and platform regulations, shifting responsibility from individual parents to government oversight of an industry facing comparisons to Big Tobacco.