A Florida teenager who sued Meta claiming he was addicted to and harmed by Instagram has dropped his case, just days before it was set to go before a Los Angeles jury.
The 15-year-old plaintiff, known only by the initials R.K.C., had already settled the same claims against TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube in recent weeks. All four platforms are part of a sprawling lawsuit accusing them of creating addictive features that harm children.
“Florida teenager R.K.C. drops Meta lawsuit after settling with TikTok, Snapchat, and 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 said the teenager received no payment for dropping his claims.
R.K.C.’s lawyers, Emily Jeffcott and Rahul Ravipudi, told the BBC their client “came into this process wanting to hold social media companies accountable and push for changes to protect young people like himself.” But they noted concerns about a jury trial stretching on for weeks and said 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.”
The teenager had argued that features such as infinite scroll and autoplay drove compulsive use that became a type of addiction, causing him anxiety and sleep deprivation.
The case was one of hundreds pending in Los Angeles Superior Court. In an earlier trial, a jury found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman’s mental health and ordered them to pay her $6mn (£4.4mn) in damages. That marked the first time social media platforms had been held liable for their effects on users. Both companies have appealed the verdict.
The next trial in the multidistrict litigation is scheduled to begin in October, according to court records. Across the US, thousands of similar lawsuits accuse Meta and other platforms of harming young children.
In May, Meta settled for an undisclosed amount with a school district that had sought $60mn in damages, claiming the platforms negatively impacted students and forced schools to spend on welfare. And earlier, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $375mn for misleading users about the safety of its platforms for children.