US teen drops Meta lawsuit on social media addiction days before trial
Summary
A 15-year-old boy in Florida dropped his lawsuit against Meta just days before the trial was scheduled to begin. The lawsuit claimed Meta’s social media platforms caused his depression and anxiety by being addictive, but the boy’s lawyers said he wanted to focus on his recovery instead of a long trial.Key Facts
- The teen, called RKC, sued Meta, Google’s YouTube, Snap’s Snapchat, and ByteDance’s TikTok over social media addiction harms.
- YouTube and TikTok settled their parts of the lawsuit in June; Snap reached a tentative settlement recently.
- RKC said he became addicted to social media after starting to use it at age eight, affecting his sleep and mental health.
- Meta said RKC dropped the claims without receiving any money and called the lawsuit baseless.
- In a related case, a Los Angeles jury ruled in March that Meta and YouTube were liable for designing addictive products and caused harm to a young woman.
- Meta was also ordered to pay $375 million in a separate case for misleading users about platform safety and enabling harm.
- Thousands of other lawsuits about social media addiction and harm targeting young people are expected to go to court.
- Meta appealed the March verdict that found it responsible for making addictive products for young people.
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