Charleston Social Media Injury Lawyer
Social media platforms design their products to maximize engagement, especially in young users. When that design causes documented psychological harm — eating disorders, self-harm, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation — families have the right to pursue civil claims against the platforms.
Product liability cases against platforms that designed harm into their products.
Social media injury cases are product liability cases, not cyberbullying cases in the traditional sense. The theory is that the platform itself is defective by design, and that defect caused real, documented harm. Joe Cunningham Law represents families in cases involving:
- Instagram and Facebook (Meta) — algorithmic amplification of eating disorder, self-harm, and body image content to minor users
- TikTok — addictive design features and algorithm-driven exposure to harmful content
- Snapchat — design features that encouraged compulsive use and facilitated harm to minors
- YouTube — recommendation algorithm exposure to harmful content
- Cases involving minors diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or an eating disorder following documented platform use
- Cases involving self-harm ideation or attempts connected to social media content exposure
- Cases where platform algorithms amplified harmful content specifically to vulnerable users
- Cases involving prolonged compulsive use caused by intentional addictive design — infinite scroll, notification engineering, like counts targeting developing brains
- Cases where platforms had internal research showing harm to minors and failed to disclose it
The legal framework — and why Section 230 does not protect these defendants.
Social media harm cases proceed under product liability and negligence theories. Section 230 — the platform shield often cited by defendants — has significant limits that courts have recognized and enforced.
What Kind of Legal Claims Apply SC Code §15-73-10
Social media harm cases are primarily brought as product liability claims. Under SC Code §15-73-10 et seq. — South Carolina’s products liability statute — a manufacturer or seller can be held liable when a product is defective and that defect causes injury.
Legal theories:
- Defective design: platform’s engagement systems (infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, algorithmic amplification) were designed to maximize time-on-app at the expense of user wellbeing, particularly for minors whose brains are still developing.
- Negligence: platforms owed a duty of care to minor users and breached that duty.
- Negligent infliction of emotional distress.
What About Section 230?
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. §230) historically shielded platforms from liability for third-party content. That defense has significant limits in these cases.
Courts have currently held that product liability claims based on the platform’s own design decisions — how the algorithm is built, how features are engineered — are NOT barred by Section 230. Section 230 protects platforms from being treated as publishers of user content. It does not protect platforms from liability for their own design choices.
Statute of Limitations SC Code §15-3-530
SC Code §15-3-530: three-year statute of limitations.
For minors: SC Code §15-3-40 tolls the limitations period while the injured person is a minor. The clock does not start until your child turns 18. Once they turn 18, they have three years to file. A child under 21 who was harmed as a minor almost certainly still has a viable claim.
Who Can File
- Parents or guardians on behalf of a minor child
- Adults who were harmed by platform use that began while they were minors
- Adults harmed in appropriate cases
From case evaluation to MDL coordination — what to expect.
Social media harm cases require medical documentation, usage data, and expert witnesses. They move through federal MDL or state court depending on facts and strategy.
Free case evaluation
We review which platforms were used, when use began, what symptoms or diagnoses emerged, and what treatment has occurred.
Medical records and documentation
Mental health treatment records are the foundation: diagnoses, treatment notes, therapist and psychiatric records, hospitalizations.
Screen time and usage data
Platforms retain usage data. We counsel families on preserving device-side data: screen time reports, downloaded data from platform settings.
Expert retention
Licensed psychologist/adolescent mental health expert for causation. Social media algorithm expert to explain how the platform’s design functioned and targeted users.
MDL coordination
Social media harm cases involving minors are consolidated in federal MDL 3047 (In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, N.D. Cal.). Joe Cunningham Law can represent SC plaintiffs in that proceeding.
Demand and negotiation
Where MDL posture allows or in cases outside the MDL.
Litigation
Joe Cunningham is a trial attorney.
Economic damages
- Past and future mental health treatment costs
- Lost educational opportunities or earning capacity
- Out-of-pocket costs
Non-economic damages
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress (including parent distress)
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Permanent psychological harm from disorders that developed during critical developmental years
Punitive damages
SC Code §15-32-520 (cap $500,000 or 3x compensatory). Evidence that platforms conducted internal research showing harm and suppressed it is directly relevant.
A trial attorney who takes on defendants with virtually unlimited resources.
Social media harm litigation requires understanding both the legal complexity and what these families are going through. Joe Cunningham is a trial attorney and former U.S. Congressman (SC-1, 116th Congress).
Not a national mass-tort marketing operation. A Charleston attorney with a selective caseload. Admitted in SC and USDC District of SC. These cases are hard, take time, and require an attorney willing to push against defendants with virtually unlimited resources.
U.S. District Court, D.S.C.
Questions we hear before every first call.
A civil lawsuit against a platform alleging that the platform’s design caused documented psychological harm to a minor user. Product liability theory (defective design) and negligence. The defendant is the platform itself, not another user.
Yes. Federal MDL 3047 is actively proceeding. Courts have rejected the argument that Section 230 immunizes platforms from product liability claims based on their own design decisions.
Section 230 protects platforms from liability for third-party content, not from liability for their own design choices. Algorithm and engagement architecture are the platform’s own decisions.
Documented psychological harm: formal mental health diagnosis (eating disorder, clinical depression, anxiety disorder, PTSD), self-harm ideation or attempts, or significant functional impairment — with a documented connection to platform use.
Parents or guardians for minor children. Adults harmed as minors. Adults in appropriate cases.
Almost certainly not. SC Code §15-3-40 tolls the SOL while a person is a minor. Clock starts at 18, then three years under SC Code §15-3-530.
Medical records, therapy notes, psychiatric evaluations. Preserve screen time data. Download data from platform settings (Meta, TikTok, Snap all have data download features). Document what you observed and when.
Documented platform use, formal mental health diagnosis or documented harm, evidence connecting the two, and records of treatment and costs.
For minors: paused until 18, then three years. For adults harmed as minors: three years from when they turned 18. Don’t assume time has run without consulting an attorney.
Nothing upfront. Contingency fee.
MDL 3047 (In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation) in N.D. Cal. Joe Cunningham Law can represent SC plaintiffs. Whether your case goes through MDL or SC state court depends on facts and strategy.
Two to four years or more for a fully litigated case. Complex defendants, expert witnesses, MDL coordination all take time.
Talk to a Charleston Social Media Harm Lawyer — Free Consultation
If your child was harmed by social media, or if you were harmed as a minor, Joe Cunningham Law will listen and give you an honest assessment. Free consultation. No fee unless we recover for you.
Charleston, S.C. 29407
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