A 15-year-old Florida teenager, identified only as R.K.C., has dropped his lawsuit against Meta just days before the case was set to go before a jury in Los Angeles. The suit claimed that Instagram’s infinite scroll and autoplay features drove compulsive use, leading to addiction, anxiety and sleep deprivation. R.K.C. had already settled similar claims against TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube in recent weeks.
His lawyers, Emily Jeffcott and Rahul Ravipudi, said the young plaintiff “came into this process wanting to hold social media companies accountable and push for changes to protect young people like himself.” But they cited concerns about a jury trial stretching on for weeks, adding that R.K.C. was “ready to close this chapter and focus on his recovery and engage in therapy as he aspires to have a normal life.”
“15-year-old R.K.C. drops Meta lawsuit days before trial, having settled with TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube.”
A Meta spokeswoman told the BBC: “The claims never held up, and this outcome makes clear that we will not back away from defending ourselves against baseless lawsuits.” She confirmed the teenager received no payment for dropping the claims.
The case was among hundreds of similar lawsuits pending in Los Angeles Superior Court, which has already seen Meta and YouTube lose once. In a landmark trial earlier this year, a jury found the companies liable for harming a young woman’s mental health and ordered them to pay $6m (£4.4m) in damages — the first time social media platforms had been held legally responsible for their effects on users. Both companies have appealed.
The next test case is scheduled for October. Across the US, thousands of lawsuits accuse Meta and other social media giants of harming children. In May, Meta settled for an undisclosed amount with a school district that had sought $60m in damages. That came shortly after a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $375m for misleading users about child safety on its platforms.
For now, R.K.C.’s decision to walk away leaves the broader legal battle unresolved — but with the next trial looming, the fight over social media’s impact on young users is far from over.