A Florida teenager who was set to go to trial next week in Los Angeles over claims he was addicted to Instagram has dropped his lawsuit against Meta, after already settling similar claims against TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.
The 15-year-old plaintiff, known only by the initials R.K.C., had accused Meta of creating addictive platforms that harmed his mental health. His lawyers, Emily Jeffcott and Rahul Ravipudi, said he “came into this process wanting to hold social media companies accountable and push for changes to protect young people like himself”. But with a jury trial looming, the teenager was “ready to close this chapter and focus on his recovery and engage in therapy as he aspires to have a normal life”.
“Florida teenager drops Meta lawsuit over social media addiction after settling similar claims against TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube.”
R.K.C. had claimed common features such as infinite scroll and autoplay drove compulsive use, causing anxiety and sleep deprivation. 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 added that R.K.C. received no payment for dropping the case.
The dropped lawsuit comes after a landmark trial in which a jury found Meta and YouTube 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 liable for their effects on users. Both companies have appealed that verdict.
The Los Angeles Superior Court is overseeing hundreds of similar addiction lawsuits against social media companies, with the next trial set for October. Across the US, thousands of such cases are pending. In May, Meta settled for an undisclosed amount with a school district that had sought $60m in damages. That followed a New Mexico judge ordering Meta to pay $375m for misleading users about children’s safety on its platforms.