Meta Agrees to Settle Social Media Lawsuit Weeks Before Landmark Trial
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A landmark trial claiming that social media platforms have fueled a national mental health crisis has been canceled after a late-stage settlement agreement. Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, agreed to a settlement with a Kentucky school district on Thursday, just weeks before the case was set to go before a jury.
The companies behind TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube agreed to settlements and were removed from the trial last week.
Breathitt County, which has six schools and about 1,700 students, is one of several school districts arguing that tech giants should cover costs associated with social media mental health effects.
“Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for America’s youth,” Breathitt County stated in its social media lawsuit. “The rates at which our youth struggle with mental health issues has steadily climbed since the advent of the Defendants’ social media platforms.”
Thousands of Social Media Lawsuits Claim Platforms Are Intentionally Addicting
The Breathitt County case is among thousands of other lawsuits that have been filed by both school districts and individuals over the potential ties between social media usage and mental health.
Lawsuits claim that companies behind these apps designed them to be intentionally addictive, prioritizing growth and profits over user safety.
The Breathitt County trial, which was scheduled for June, would have marked the first time that a school district’s claims went before a jury.
An individual social media trial made waves for thousands of related lawsuits earlier this year. A woman claimed that she developed serious mental health issues after using social media apps like Instagram and YouTube from a young age. A California jury ordered the makers of those platforms to pay her a combined $6 million.
There are currently more than 5,000 social media lawsuits active across federal and state courts, with more being filed. Additional trials are anticipated in the near future.