Meta Settles Teen Lawsuit Alleging Instagram and Facebook Caused Addiction
Meta Platforms has settled a lawsuit brought by a teenage plaintiff who accused the company of designing Instagram and Facebook to encourage addictive use, contributing to mental health problems and disordered eating.
Attorneys representing the plaintiff announced the settlement on Friday, as jury selection had already begun for a trial involving claims against Meta and Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat.
Meta had settled with one plaintiff, identified as S J, days before the trial began. Friday’s agreement with the second plaintiff, K D B, means the case is now expected to proceed against Snap alone.
“We remain committed to improving safety for kids on social media apps and holding tech companies accountable, and we are pleased to have brought this matter to a just resolution on behalf of our client,” Emily Jeffcott, an attorney for K D B, said in a statement.
Teenagers Accuse Social Media Platforms of Encouraging Addiction
The case is the second social media addiction lawsuit involving young people to reach trial in Los Angeles state court.
The plaintiffs alleged that Meta, Snap, TikTok and Alphabet’s YouTube designed their platforms to encourage compulsive use, contributing to mental health problems among children and teenagers.
Both plaintiffs had previously settled their claims against TikTok and YouTube.
The court selected the case as a test trial from thousands of pending lawsuits. Its outcome could influence how companies and plaintiffs approach similar cases.
S J, a 16-year-old from Illinois, and K D B, an 18-year-old from Mississippi, said they began using YouTube as early as age three. They started using other social media platforms around age nine.
The plaintiffs alleged that features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling encouraged compulsive habits and contributed to their mental health struggles.
The companies have rejected claims that they deliberately designed their platforms to addict young users. They maintain that they have taken steps to make their apps safer spaces for young people to express themselves.
Social Media Companies Face Thousands of Lawsuits
Social media companies face thousands of lawsuits in federal and state courts across the United States.
The plaintiffs include individuals, school districts, municipalities and other government entities. They allege that the companies knowingly designed services to encourage addictive behaviour among children, contributing to a youth mental health crisis involving anxiety, depression and suicide.
In the first case of its kind to reach trial, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in March. The jury awarded a young woman $6 million in damages.
The next two teenagers whose cases were selected for trial either settled with the companies or dropped their claims.
Meanwhile, the first school district selected for trial reached settlements with all the companies involved.
Meta Faces Additional Legal Pressure
In August, Meta reached settlements worth up to $18 billion with nearly every US state and territory to resolve lawsuits brought by attorneys general over alleged harm to teenagers.
As part of the agreements, the company agreed to make changes to how Instagram and Facebook operate for teenage users.
Earlier this month, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay a $25 billion penalty after a jury found that the company had misled Facebook users about data privacy and its handling of hate speech.
Meta has said it will appeal the ruling.
