Meta Reaches Settlement in Latest Social Media Addiction Lawsuit to Go to Trial
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Meta will no longer be part of a social media addiction trial that was getting underway this week.
The tech giant, which owns Facebook and Instagram, agreed to a settlement to resolve claims brought by a teen, identified as 18-year-old K.D.B. She alleged that the platforms were designed to intentionally addict users and caused serious mental health harms.
The trial also involves a second teen, 16-year-old S.J., who Meta had previously agreed to settle with. The lawsuit is still expected to move forward with Snap, the company behind Snapchat, as the only remaining defendant.
TikTok and Google had also settled out of the trial before it could begin.
Meta’s decision to settle comes after the company was hit with a landmark verdict earlier this year in the first individual social media addiction lawsuit to advance to trial. That case involved a young woman who said that she developed severe mental health issues after using Instagram and YouTube from a young age.
At the conclusion of the trial, a California jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay her a combined $6 million.
The outcomes of these early social media addiction trials are being closely watched. Thousands of lawsuits that claim teens and children developed mental health issues after using popular platforms are pending in both federal and state courts.
The tech giants are also facing a wave of lawsuits from school districts across the country that say that schools are left to deal with the costs of a social media youth mental health crisis.
Those companies avoided what would have been the first school district trial earlier this year, settling with a Kentucky school district for $27 million in May 2026.
The ongoing trial against Snap will likely take multiple weeks if it moves forward.