Meta Settles With Teen During Trial Over Social Media Addiction Claims

Meta settled a lawsuit Friday with an 18-year-old Mississippi plaintiff, identified only as K.D.B., while a jury was being selected in a Los Angeles Superior Court trial.The lawsuit alleges that design features on Instagram and Facebook contributed to depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and other mental health problems.Meta had already resolved claims with the trial’s second plaintiff, a 16-year-old from Illinois known as S.J. As a result, the case is expected to continue against Snap Inc. alone. Settlement terms were not released.“Trials, dismissals and settlements are all common in the bellwether process, and this litigation is no exception. We will continue to defend ourselves in court, and we stand by our record,” a Meta spokesperson told​​ The Epoch Times.“We’ve spent more than a decade building protections for teens, and our agreement with 52 bipartisan attorneys general goes even further with strict time limits, no access at night, and no notifications during school hours. We hope the rest of our industry joins us in setting this new standard.”The Los Angeles case, involving claims by two teenage female plaintiffs, is the third test trial chosen to guide how thousands of similar lawsuits filed by parents, school districts and state attorneys general will be handled.Parents involved in related cases are watching the proceedings closely, hoping it will reveal what Snapchat leadership knew about potential harms and when.If the trial moves forward as scheduled, with opening arguments expected next week, it would mark the first time Snap Inc. and its CEO Evan Spiegel face a jury on these allegations.Snap has avoided high-profile trials by settling several earlier cases, keeping internal documents sealed.Both plaintiffs had already settled with TikTok and Google before the trial began. Only S.J. had settled with Meta before Friday’s agreement, leaving Snap and Meta as the remaining defendants until Meta’s latest resolution.S.J. alleges the platforms caused self-harm, anxiety, depression, addiction, and an eating disorder. K.D.B. claims overuse led to anxiety, depression, addiction, self-harm, and an eating disorder.Their complaint accuses the companies of engineering products to increase engagement and profits, citing features such as ephemeral messaging and short video feeds.The filing also cites Meta’s own research showing that 66 percent of teen girls and 46 percent of teen boys experience negative social comparisons on Instagram, and that Facebook worsens body-image issues for a third of girls.It lists 13 causes of action, including negligence and product liability, and alleges Snap designed features that create dependency, leading to sleep deprivation, anxiety, depression, and other harms.More than 3,300 individual personal injury cases have been consolidated. Lawyers use the selected trials to assess how juries respond to the claims and to establish potential settlement ranges.In March, a Los Angeles jury found Google and Meta liable for $6 million in damages in the first of these cases. The plaintiff, a 20-year-old identified as Kaley G.M. or K.G.M., had accused the companies of causing psychological harms through addiction to YouTube and Instagram.Of the award, $3 million was compensatory and $3 million punitive, with Meta ordered to pay the larger share.The first trial also produced internal documents that plaintiffs say show the companies knew of risks to young users but continued to design platforms for maximum engagement.“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options,” a Meta spokesperson responded at the time.Earlier, a 15-year-old from New Jersey identified as P. M-Y. dismissed her remaining claims against Meta, Google, and Snap without receiving any payment from the companies.