Meta settles teen lawsuit alleging Instagram caused mental health issues
What's the story
Meta Platforms has settled a lawsuit with an 18-year-old from Mississippi who accused the company of designing Instagram and Facebook to be addictive. The plaintiff's attorneys announced the settlement on Friday. The case was set to test the claims of two teens against Meta and Snap Inc. but following this settlement, only Snap remains in trial.
Test case
The trial is a part of thousands of similar cases
The trial is the second in Los Angeles state court over claims from young people who say they became addicted to social media due to platforms designed by Meta, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube.
The plaintiffs, S.J. and K.D.B. had settled with TikTok and YouTube earlier.
Their case was chosen as a test case among thousands of pending lawsuits, potentially influencing future resolutions between companies and plaintiffs in similar cases.
Addiction claims
Plaintiffs' claims and companies' denials
S.J. a 16-year-old girl from Illinois, and K.D.B. an 18-year-old from Mississippi, say they started using YouTube as early as three years old and other platforms around nine.
They developed compulsive habits due to features like autoplay and infinite scroll.
The companies have denied these claims, insisting their platforms weren't designed to addict young people but rather make them safe for self-expression.
Legal challenges
Thousands of lawsuits against social media companies
Social media companies are facing thousands of lawsuits in federal and state courts from individuals, school districts, municipalities, and other government entities.
The plaintiffs allege these companies knowingly designed their platforms to addict children, contributing to a youth mental health crisis involving anxiety, depression, and suicide.
In March this year, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in such a case.
Past settlements
Meta's other legal battles
In August, Meta settled lawsuits with nearly every state and US territory for up to $18 billion over the platforms' harm to teens. The company also agreed to change how Instagram and Facebook work for teens.
Earlier this month, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay a $25 billion penalty after a jury found it misled Facebook users about their data privacy and hate speech handling.
The company plans to appeal this ruling.