Meta settles with teen as social-media safety claims head toward another trial

Meta Platforms has settled with an 18-year-old plaintiff who accused the company of designing Instagram and Facebook to be addictive and of contributing to mental-health problems and disordered eating, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys and reporting by Reuters.

Settlement narrows the Los Angeles case

The settlement was reached Friday after jury selection began for a Los Angeles state-court trial involving two young plaintiffs and Meta and Snap, the parent of Snapchat. Meta had already settled with the other plaintiff, identified as S.J.; the agreement with K.D.B. leaves Snap as the only defendant expected to remain in the trial.

The plaintiffs’ allegations are not established findings. S.J., a 16-year-old from Illinois, and K.D.B., from Mississippi, said they developed compulsive habits after using YouTube and other platforms from childhood. They attributed conditions including depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders to platform features such as autoplay and infinite scroll. The companies have rejected claims that their services were designed to addict young users and have said they have taken steps to make the apps safer.

A test case in a wider wave of litigation

The case was selected from thousands of pending lawsuits as a bellwether, meaning its proceedings could influence how similar claims are resolved. Reuters reported that the first related trial ended in March with a Los Angeles jury finding Meta and YouTube negligent and awarding a young woman $6 million. Other selected cases involving teens and a school district have ended in settlements or claims being dropped.

Meta said settlements, dismissals and trials are part of the process of testing cases and that it would continue defending itself in court. In a separate agreement announced in August, Meta said it would pay about $18 billion to a bipartisan group of 52 U.S. state attorneys general and territories and apply measures including time limits, nighttime blocks and school-hour notification controls for teens. Meta’s own account of that agreement says most provisions are intended to remain for 10 years.

What happens next

With Meta no longer in the bellwether trial, proceedings are expected to continue against Snap. The outcome may provide another data point in litigation over whether design choices on major social platforms contributed to alleged youth harms, while the underlying claims against the companies remain contested.

Sources

• Reuters: Meta settles with teen during trial testing claims social media caused depression, eating disorders
• UPI: Meta settles lawsuit with teen who sued for social media addiction
• Meta: Our Agreement With US State Attorneys General
• Meta: Strengthening Teen Accounts with New Safety Updates

Photo source: CNBC. Paul Faith / AFP via Getty Images. Meta logo at the International AI Summit in Dublin, October 14, 2026 (file photo).