Florida Teen Drops Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Against Meta Following Settlements Involving YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat
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A highly anticipated social media addiction trial that had been scheduled for next week will no longer take place.
A Florida teen who claims he developed severe mental health issues from using popular social media platforms dropped his lawsuit on Wednesday after securing settlements with multiple defendants.
The trial was scheduled to begin July 27 with Meta, the maker of Facebook and Instagram, as the only remaining defendant. The companies behind YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat had agreed to confidential settlements to remove themselves from the case in the weeks leading up to the trial.
Social Media Lawsuits Claim Popular Apps Fueled Youth Mental Health Crisis
Other social media addiction lawsuits are expected to go to trial in the near future.
Lawsuits claiming that popular social media platforms were designed to be intentionally addictive are proceeding at both the federal and state levels.
There are currently 2,893 social media lawsuits pending in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, brought by individuals, families and school districts and placed before Chief District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for coordinated proceedings.
The upcoming trials will receive significant attention, given the wide-ranging nature of this litigation and the fact that the only case to go before a jury ended in a victory for the plaintiff.
That trial, which took place earlier this year, involved a 20-year-old woman who said she developed body dysmorphia and other serious mental health issues after using apps like Instagram from a young age.
The jury concluded both Meta and Google had been negligent, ordering them to pay the woman a combined $6 million. The companies are appealing that ruling.
Meanwhile, school districts are suing the platforms to recoup costs of treating mental health issues they say social media caused. Multiple social media companies settled a school district bellwether trial in May for $27 million.