Social Media Victims Law Center’s Matthew Bergman welcomes UK Social Media ban for under 16s but urges government to go further
The UK government should consider including ALL AI chatbots in the ban and providing a route to civil justice in the UK for families harmed by social media
London, New York, 15 June 2026: Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) behind the successful US trial against Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Snap Inc. applauds the Government’s decision to ban social media access to kids under 16 but believes that the ban does not go far enough. He urges the government to consider using this once in a generation opportunity to impose restrictions on AI platforms that, like ChatGPT, are also designed to addict young persons, which can lead to harmful and at worst fatal consequences. Just last week, SMVLC filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on behalf of Kristie Carrier, mother of Alice Carrier who died by suicide.
Matthew Bergman, founder of SMVLC said: “The government heard the pleas of grieving parents, accepted the scientific consensus of child development experts on the dangers of social media to youth mental health and saw the outrageous corporate misconduct in the social media companies own documents. Its ban on social media is a monumental step that firmly establishes the UK as leading the world on child safety online.
In response to the UK government consultation, SMVLC furnished the government with corporate documents from the US trial that demonstrate beyond any doubt that social media companies make deliberate choices to choose profit over the safety of our children and that they actively target them.
We represent UK and US families harmed by social media and AI chatbots, and hope that the government will use this historic moment to extend the ban to include all AI chatbots as they are platforms known to be unsafe for children. SMVLC was the first law firm in the world to initiate litigation against an AI Chatbot company for causing harms to young people and forced the platform to stop providing chatbot service to minors. AI chatbots are a fast-emerging frontier of harm, and whilst it is encouraging to see that the UK government plans to ban AI ‘romantic companion’ chatbots, they must also address other harms. Through the legal actions that we are pursuing against AI companies, we have seen first-hand the devastating consequences that they are having on children, including cases in which AI has encouraged young people to take their own lives after they formed relationships with chatbots, which are designed to emulate human relationships, empathy and sycophancy in order to increase engagement and profits.
SMVLC is also representing UK families in the US courts, it is our hope that before long there will be a route to civil justice available in the UK and we are working hard to achieve this. The UK government has recognised that the next generation cannot continue to pay the price with their mental health and their lives while these companies continue to make ever greater profits, so deterrence and change will only be achieved if there is real enforcement that hits their bottom line.
This ban heralds an important victory for society and parents, especially for the families who have tragically lost their children to the harms of social media and have been campaigning hard for the government take real action.”
Notes to the editors
About the lawsuit against OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT
The lawsuit filed against OpenAI alleges various legal claims grounded in product liability, negligence, wrongful death and unfair competition. The legal action also requests an injunction requiring OpenAI to implement a range of safeguards by default for users. The lack of such safeguards, or even warnings regarding the risk of psychological dependence or other harms, is a direct result of OpenAI’s prioritization of rushed product development and growth over user safety of ChatGPT.
“If a person came up to me, and they were clearly in distress and sharing their thoughts of suicide, I would be expected to help them, not encourage them to fixate on their depressive thoughts or isolate themselves. The same should be true of OpenAI. Instead, OpenAI has chosen to put out a product that was unsafe, and that they knew was unsafe but they did so without any concern for the consequences of their choices. Sam Altman can continue to go about his life normally, but my life is missing a child. This is unacceptable. Automatically stopping certain conversations or warning about the dangers of OpenAI products is just the minimum of what they can and must do. The first cars didn’t have seatbelts—those had to be added in to protect people. And if OpenAI doesn’t want to add in seatbelts, or be honest about the risks that come with using their products, I am ready to hold them accountable. I don’t want any other family to go through what we have, and OpenAI needs to change,” said Kristie Carrier.
Kristie Carrier’s daughter, Alice Carrier, died by suicide on July 2, 2025. As Kristie began to review her daughter’s devices, she was shocked to discover extensive ChatGPT conversations where Alice shared her suicidal thoughts in the months prior to her passing, with escalated exchanges in the days leading up to her death. These exchanges included discussing suicide methods and describing the feelings of isolation she was experiencing. Instead of automatically terminating these alarming conversations, flagging her account for human intervention, or refusing to engage with inquiries regarding self-harm or suicide, ChatGPT continued to encourage Alice’s engagement, resulting in her further isolation from her human support system and ultimately, suicide.
“OpenAI built a tool that can shape human behavior, yet failed to include fundamental safety measures in the rush to get ChatGPT 4.0 to market before its competitors could introduce similar products,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center. “ChatGPT’s responses to a suicidal teenager were not harmless glitches — they were the predictable result of releasing a powerful product without the safeguards needed to protect vulnerable users. When a system encourages or reinforces suicidal ideation, accountability is not optional—it is essential.”
The Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) is a law firm based in Seattle, Washington, that represents children and families in the US and UK who have been harmed by social media and AI platforms.
The firm was founded in 2021 to hold tech companies legally accountable for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users. SMVLC seeks to apply principles of product liability to force tech companies to elevate consumer safety to the forefront of its economic analysis and design safer products to protect users from foreseeable harm.
About Matthew P. Bergman
Matthew P. Bergman is an attorney, law professor, philanthropist and community activist who has recovered over $1 billion on behalf of his clients. He is the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and Bergman Draper Oslund Udo law firm; a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School; and serves on the board of directors of nonprofit institutions in higher education, national security, civil rights, worker protection and the arts.
