Texas TikTok Lawyer Handling TikTok Lawsuit Mental Health Cases Nationwide

In 2025, the TikTok mental health MDL moved into bellwether case selections after over 1,700 TikTok lawsuits were consolidated. The TikTok lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s platform contributed significantly to the growing youth mental health crisis. Court filings revealed allegations that TikTok intentionally targets children by creating a content recommendation system designed to addict young users and maximize young users’ time on the platform.

In February 2025, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a case management order setting bellwether discovery deadlines. Internal evidence showed that maximizing engagement using child-directed subject matter was a deliberate strategy, fueling the youth mental health crisis. Plaintiffs argue that TikTok’s addictive design features encouraged compulsive use without safeguards to protect young people.

By April 2025, plaintiffs filed motions for sanctions after TikTok allegedly withheld documents showing how the TikTok platform promoted dangerous TikTok challenges to young users. TikTok claims it acted within consumer protection laws but agreed to additional disclosures. Hearings are set through fall 2025, with the first bellwether trials expected to start by early 2026.

In 2025, a bipartisan coalition of 14 attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General James and California Attorney General Bonta, continued to pursue aggressive action against TikTok. Each attorney general filed separate enforcement actions through their respective office of the attorney general, asserting widespread violations of state laws and federal law related to the youth mental health crisis.

The attorneys general’s lawsuits allege that TikTok created a content recommendation system designed to addict young users and maximize the time of young users with endless scrolling to boost corporate profits over protecting young people. With each office of the attorney general filing separate enforcement actions, each complaint alleges that TikTok employs such features and child-directed subject matter to boost revenue, knowingly creating mental and physical harm for teenagers and children across the country.

According to the California Attorney General,

“TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.”

The bipartisan coalition’s TikTok lawsuits were signed by attorneys general representing the following states: California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

Each office of the attorney general emphasized the devastating impact of TikTok’s addictive features, citing harm to thousands of young users across the country.

Coordinated through each state’s consumer protection division, each TikTok lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s intended design features violated both state laws and federal law, worsening the ongoing youth mental health crisis. Investigations led by the New York Attorney General James documented that TikTok’s platform deliberately steered young users toward harmful content while failing to disclose the risks associated with its algorithms.

In public remarks, California Attorney General Rob Bonta added:

“When we look at the youth mental health crisis and the revenue machine TikTok has created, fueled by the time and attention of our young people, it’s devastatingly obvious: Our children and teens never stood a chance against these social media behemoths. TikTok must be held accountable for the harms it created in taking away the time and childhoods of American children.”

The bipartisan coalition, working through the office of the attorney general in each jurisdiction, represents a growing movement to combat the dangers posed by social media platforms. Attorney General James made public remarks reiterating the importance of stopping addictive social media platforms from breaking consumer protection laws and contributing to poor mental health outcomes across the country.

The filed separate enforcement actions by each attorney general seek significant financial penalties to force TikTok to stop putting corporate profits over protecting teens. The attorneys general argue that TikTok’s model violates consumer protection laws intended to defend minors from exploitation through social media platforms.

In addition, the attorneys general are coordinating investigation efforts to show how TikTok employs algorithms to harm children across the country. Multiple offices of the attorney general have reported significant increases in reports of youth anxiety, depression, and compulsive behavior directly tied to TikTok use. Every attorney general involved asserts that regulatory action is necessary to force TikTok to stop prioritizing ad revenues over the mental and physical health of American children.

By 2025, more attorneys general were expected to join the bipartisan coalition, signaling a broader movement to enforce state laws and federal law against addictive social media platforms like TikTok. The bipartisan coalition believes their actions are vital to ending exploitative practices that worsen the national youth mental health crisis.