At Social Media Trial, Grieving Parents Quietly Wait Their Turn

After losing teens to suicides they say were induced by addictive apps, parents find comfort in one another.

Parents and family members, including some plaintiffs in the case, hold hands as they pose together before entering Los Angeles Superior Court for the social media trial tasked to determine whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children, in Los Angeles, on Feb. 18, 2026. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

LOS ANGELES—They have come from Colorado, New York state, Louisiana, and Indiana. Some days, they arrive at 4 a.m. or camp out in the rain to get a place in the courtroom. They sit in the gallery, watching the spectacle unfold while replaying the tragedy that brought them here.

For parents who have lost a child to what they say are the engineered harms of social media, a landmark jury trial that began on Feb. 9 in Los Angeles has been a roller coaster of emotion and a chance at validation, years in the making.