Injury guide
An eating disorder needs care, not blame. Ask a health provider for help and a lawyer to assess any claim about app use.
Updated Oct 4, 202611 sources
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Updated Oct 4, 202611 sources
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Kira E. Riehm · Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health · Lead author of the 2019 cohort study
Finding: The 2019 study linked more reported social media time with later reports of inward distress, alone or alongside behavior problems.
Associations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Among US Youth (opens in a new tab) · Sep 11, 2019 · Checked Oct 3, 2026
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health · JAMA Psychiatry · 2019
Read the source: Associations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Among US Youth (opens in a new tab) · Checked Oct 3, 2026
Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · 2023
Read the source: Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory (opens in a new tab) · Checked Oct 3, 2026
The process
You answer a few questions
About two minutes. Nothing is sent until you agree on the last step and press submit.
A lawyer looks at it
A lawyer at the firm reads your answers and checks them against the current case criteria.
The firm decides and gets in touch
If the firm takes your case, you get the terms in writing to read before you sign. You can always say no.
An eating disorder is a serious illness that affects eating and health. It can occur at different body weights and is not a choice.
NIMH describes several types, including severe food restriction, binge eating and bingeing with purging. Body size alone does not tell you whether someone has an eating disorder. A health provider should assess the person’s symptoms and history rather than judging from a photo or app profile.
Talk to a health provider about severe changes in eating or worries about weight. People can be very ill even when they appear healthy.
Ask for help with food restriction, repeated bingeing or purging, or eating concerns that are getting worse. In a mental-health crisis call or text 988. Call 911 for a life-threatening situation. Do not wait for a lawsuit decision to seek care.
A health provider can help assess the symptoms and choose next steps. Care may involve medical, mental-health and nutrition support.
NIMH says eating disorders can be treated and that early care matters. Bring your questions about symptoms, earlier care and daily functioning. Ask the treating team what information it needs. This is a care discussion, not a test of whether a legal claim will be accepted.
Ask a lawyer to assess your child’s health history and app use. A diagnosis or a study result alone does not settle who caused harm.
A civil claim needs evidence about the alleged injury and responsibility. Describe which account and content concerned you, when the symptoms arose and what other factors were present. Ask which claim and law fit, rather than relying on a checklist that treats every eating disorder as the same case.
Start with the health, school and app records you already have. Ask the provider or lawyer about safe access to anything missing.
Make a timeline of eating concerns, appointments and app use. Separate a professional diagnosis from your own observations. Do not label a child’s symptoms to make them fit a lawsuit description. Keep care questions with the treating team and claim questions with a lawyer.
Ask how medical-record and case costs would be paid. A lawyer’s fee and the cost of care are different questions.
Ask the firm about costs for health records, expert review and court work, including who pays if the case loses. Discuss treatment and its cost with the care team separately. Get the legal fee and expense terms in writing before relying on a promise about free help.
Record when eating concerns, care and app use began. Ask a lawyer which dates matter for the claim.
Keep the treatment timeline and account history side by side without assigning a cause yourself. Ask the lawyer what else is needed and whether the firm has accepted representation. Ask the care team about health needs now; do not wait for a filing decision to seek help.
Teens spending 3+ hours daily on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms
Rates of teen depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide increased sharply beginning in 2012 — coinciding with widespread smartphone and social media adoption
Habitual social media checking in early adolescence is associated with changes in brain sensitivity to social feedback over time
The review is free and private. Asking for it doesn’t commit you to anything.
Ask a law firm to review your caseYes. Research and clinical evidence strongly support a causal connection between social media use and eating disorder development in adolescents. Meta's own internal research showed Instagram made body image worse for 32% of teen girls. Studies have found that increased social media use is associated with higher rates of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, and clinical eating disorders including anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The mechanisms include constant social comparison with filtered and edited images, algorithmic amplification of pro-eating-disorder content, beauty filters that distort self-perception, and peer pressure around appearance. The surge in eating disorder diagnoses among teens tracks closely with social media adoption.
The advisory does not say Instagram algorithmically promotes eating-disorder content. It says social media may perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem, especially among adolescent girls. It does not decide legal causation for any one child.
Source: U.S. Surgeon General: Social Media and Youth Mental Health Advisory · as of Oct 7, 2026
The strongest eating disorder claims include medical records documenting the eating disorder diagnosis (anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder), treatment records (hospitalization, inpatient/outpatient treatment, therapy), screen time data showing heavy social media use during the period when the eating disorder developed, evidence of exposure to body image content on platforms (screenshots, saved posts, search history), testimony from medical providers linking the eating disorder to social media exposure, and school records showing behavioral or academic changes. Meta's own internal research showing Instagram caused body image harm provides powerful general evidence that supports individual claims.
Checked against 11 primary sources by People's Justice editors · Updated
How we make moneyPeople's Justice research team · Updated Oct 4, 2026