Google’s YouTube Settles Social Media Lawsuit Weeks Before Trial
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Just weeks before the trial was set to begin, Google agreed to a settlement in a social media addiction lawsuit.
Terms of the settlement, which will remove claims involving YouTube from the case, were not revealed, but the outcome is significant. That upcoming trial is one of thousands of active lawsuits claiming that the giants behind popular platforms designed their products to be intentionally addictive, worsening mental health outcomes for users.
While Google agreed to a settlement, the trial is still expected to take place in California state court on July 27 and will involve claims brought by a 15-year-old. Meta, TikTok and Snapchat are all named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Settlement Follows $6 Million Verdict in First Social Media Trial
The upcoming case will be the second trial over claims that popular social media platforms are intentionally designed to be addictive.
The first trial, which took place earlier this year, involved a woman who claimed that she began using social media platforms at a young age and went on to develop serious mental health issues. Snapchat and TikTok agreed to settlements before the trial began, but Meta and Google opted to take the case before a jury.
The companies lost the trial and were found negligent. They were ordered to pay a combined $6 million to the woman.
On top of cases brought by families and individuals, school districts are also filing lawsuits claiming that social media has fueled a mental health crisis. A group of companies agreed to pay a combined $27 million to settle the first school district case before it could advance to trial.