Meta wins major lawsuit over child safety concerns. The Mark Zuckerberg-owned platforms settled the first case scheduled for hearing Thursday, seeking to require social media companies to cover costs that school districts say they have incurred to deal with a mental health crisis allegedly sparked by the platforms.
The settlement fully resolves the lawsuit brought by the Breathitt County School District in eastern Kentucky, following earlier agreements by co-defendants Alphabet’s YouTube, Snap and TikTok.
In a landmark trial, a Los Angeles jury on March 25 found Meta and Alphabet’s Google negligent for designing social media platforms that are harmful to youth, awarding a combined $6 million to a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child.
A hearing in the case was scheduled for June 15 in federal court in Oakland, California.
Breathitt is one of about 1,200 school districts making similar claims. Its case was chosen as a bellwether or test case for those lawsuits.
“We have resolved this matter amicably and remain focused on our long-standing work of building protections like Teen Accounts that help teens stay safe online, while giving parents simple controls to support their families,” a Meta spokesperson said.
In a statement, attorneys for the plaintiffs said they had settled Breathitt’s claims against Meta, adding that “we are focused on seeking justice for the remaining 1,200 school districts that have filed cases.”
The lawsuit seeks more than $60 million:
Breathitt, from a small rural district in Appalachia, accused companies of designing their platforms to hook young users, leading to anxiety, depression and self-harm among students and dropping out of school to deal with the consequences.
The lawsuit seeks more than $60 million to cover the costs of combating the impact of social media on students’ mental health and to fund a 15-year mental health program to mitigate the problem.
It also sought a court order requiring companies to modify their platforms to reduce addictive features.
More than 3,300 lawsuits alleging addiction-related harms are pending in California state court against social media companies.
Another 2,400 cases brought by school districts as well as individuals, municipalities and states are centralized in California federal court.
The companies have denied the allegations and have said they take extensive steps to keep teens and young users safe on their platforms.
Breathitt’s case was closely watched as an initial test of the school districts’ claims in broader litigation.
Judges and lawyers often use bellwether verdicts to assess the potential value of remaining claims and guide settlement negotiations.
Breathitt is a small district serving about 1,600 students in six schools, according to federal data, but the litigation also involves larger districts. DeKalb County, Georgia, which educates more than 90,000 students, has said it is seeking up to $4.3 billion for future mental health costs.
The Los Angeles Unified School District and the New York City Public School System — which together serve more than 1.2 million students — have also filed suit.
A second phase of litigation in a separate case brought by the state of New Mexico making similar claims is expected to conclude soon.
