In a deeply transformed global landscape—with the protection of minors' right to health against the systemic risks of social media finally taking center stage for the media, the judiciary, and European institutions—the moment is approaching when the Italian justice system will be called upon to rule.
The Editorial Team
An unprecedented climate of media attention
Anticipation for the Milan hearing grows by the day, fueled by media attention that has now crossed specialized boundaries to become a matter of national public debate. In recent weeks, public opinion has been shaken by news coming from the United States, where landmark rulings have begun to breach Big Tech's wall of impunity.
In Los Angeles, a jury ordered Meta and Google to pay millions in damages for harm caused to a young user's mental health—depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation—inflicted by the platforms' algorithmic design. In New Mexico, Meta was ordered to pay $375 million for failing to protect minors from online sexual predators, in what appears to be the first jury trial in which the company was held liable for acts committed by third parties on its platform. In both cases, decisive evidence emerged from internal company documents proving that senior management was fully aware of the risks.
These precedents confirm the scientific and legal validity of the arguments advanced in Italy through the injunctive class action brought in Milan against Meta and TikTok: social networks are not neutral products, but systems intentionally engineered to trap users—even the youngest ones—regardless of the cost to their physical and mental health.
Italian television and press have also shone a spotlight on our initiative. Programs such as “Fuori dal Coro” on Mediaset (with the report “Damned technology, the landmark ruling: 'Social media is the new drug'”), “Otto e mezzo” on LA7 (the segment “Il Punto” by Paolo Pagliaro), and “1Mattina” on Rai 1 have analyzed in depth the dangers of addictive design and the crucial role of the class action as a tangible defense for Italian families.
In print media, of note is the excellent article by Il Fatto Quotidiano: Class action against social networks, European parents' associations consider legal action as in Italy: “We encourage everyone to act”.
The Italian injunctive action: a model for Europe
The injunctive class action spearheaded by MOIGE (Italian Parents Movement) and numerous Italian families, represented by the Ambrosio & Commodo Law Firm of Turin, is grounded in Article 840-sexiesdecies of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure. This is not a claim for individual monetary damages, but an action seeking a court injunction compelling Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and TikTok to cease their harmful practices and structurally bring their platforms into compliance with current legislation.
The objective is to establish Italy as a model for the entire European Union: proving that civil law—applied in conjunction with the GDPR and the Digital Services Act (DSA)—can be leveraged to enforce the principle of the best interests of the child over the profit-driven motives of the attention economy.
Precisely for these reasons, the European Parents' Association (EPA), meeting recently in Paris, recommended using this legal action as a benchmark to be replicated in other European countries.
Furthermore, on May 8 in Rome, MOIGE is hosting an event on the initiative (titled “Social Media on Trial: The first European injunctive class action to protect minors”).
The three pillars of the legal claim
The petition, filed on July 24, 2025, with the Civil Court of Milan, Specialized Business Chamber, is structured around three concrete, measurable demands:
- Strict Age Verification: Implementation of reliable systems to prevent children under 14 from registering and to secure verifiable consent from both parents for users aged 13–14, eliminating self-declaration mechanisms that are effortlessly bypassed.
- Elimination of addictive design: An immediate halt to infinite scroll, autoplay, and algorithmic recommendation engines designed to maximize engagement time, accompanied by the reinstatement of chronological content feeds and the introduction of effective time limits for minors' profiles.
- Transparent risk disclosures: A mandate to display clear, prominent warnings detailing the actual dangers of the platforms, including behavioral addiction, algorithmic manipulation, and potential permanent biological damage to adolescent neurological development—mirroring the requirements imposed on tobacco products.
Institutional convergence: the European Commission's Preliminary Findings
The legal battle initiated in Milan now finds decisive reinforcement from European institutions.
On April 29, 2026, the European Commission issued its preliminary findings as part of the proceedings initiated against Meta (Facebook and Instagram) under the DSA. According to Brussels, Meta has violated European regulations on multiple critical fronts: the company has failed to effectively prevent children under the age of 13 from accessing its platforms, where profiles are created simply by stating a fake birth date, entirely devoid of genuine verification. Furthermore, the Commission underscored the inadequacy and complexity of the tools provided to report minors' accounts, as well as an underlying systemic risk assessment conducted by the company that was both incomplete and arbitrary.
This major development follows nearly three months after similar conclusions reached in the proceedings against TikTok, published by the European Commission on February 6, 2026. In that case, Brussels formally challenged the platform's intrinsically addictive design. Under intense scrutiny were infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and hyper-personalized recommendation algorithms, deemed responsible for triggering compulsive behaviors, diminishing user self-control, and driving the brain into an “autopilot” state that prevents conscious platform usage. Moreover, TikTok's screen-time management tools were found ineffective at mitigating these risks.
The two proceedings address distinct platforms and were issued at different times, but the preliminary findings concerning Meta and TikTok converge on the exact same core issues. In both cases, the European Commission points an accusing finger at addictive design and deficient age verification systems, validating the core rationale of the Milan class action: targeted at both corporations because both inflict identical harm on underage users using the same playbook—a platform design and operation engineered to exploit human psychological vulnerabilities, extracting as much time (and money) as possible, in homage to the attention economy and in utter contempt of fundamental rights.
The preliminary conclusions of the EU Commission—first on TikTok, now on Meta—represent an institutional endorsement of the legal and scientific foundations underpinning our action.
The voice of Europe: Henna Virkkunen's statement
The Commission's conclusions are echoed in the words of its Executive Vice-President, Henna Virkkunen, who stated:
“Addiction to social media can have harmful effects on the mental development of children and adolescents. The Digital Services Act holds platforms accountable for the impact they can have on their users. In Europe, we enforce our laws to protect our children and our citizens online.”
Platforms must be held legally responsible for the safety of their design. Protecting minors is an obligation—not an option.
May 14: a defining date for the future
The hearing before the Court of Milan marks a moment of truth. It unfolds against an international backdrop shaped by US rulings (Los Angeles and New Mexico) and the double institutional alignment of the European Commission's preliminary findings. It will serve as an imperative platform to reaffirm that the physical and mental well-being of minors cannot be sacrificed on the altar of Big Tech profits.
This injunctive class action does not seek financial compensation: it demands that these platforms stop causing harm. And an ever-growing coalition of voices—American judges, European officials, Italian families—is uniting to declare that change is possible, and that it is necessary.
Follow updates on the May 14 hearing on our website.
