GoKawiilis a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.
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After back-to-back losses in trials grappling with its impact on teens’ mental health, Meta just settled what was supposed to be its next legal battle with Kentucky’s Breathitt County School District. Google’s YouTube, Snap, and TikTok all recently settled similar claims brought by the school district, which was seeking payment from the companies to cover the cost of combatting social media-related mental health harms.
The trial had been set to begin in June as the first bellwether trial of the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases, which include claims from school districts, state attorneys general, and individuals against the social media platforms. It’s similar to the group of cases making their way through a California state court in Los Angeles, where the first bellwether case in that group was recently held. The idea is that trying a sampling of cases before juries will inform settlement negotiations for the broader bucket of remaining cases.
The terms of the settlement with Breathitt County School District were not disclosed, but plaintiffs’ attorneys Lexi Hazam, Previn Warren, Chris Seeger and Ronald Johnson said in a statement, “our focus remains on pursuing justice for the remaining 1,200 school districts who have filed cases.”
“We’ve resolved this case amicably and remain focused on our longstanding work to build protections like Teen Accounts that help teens stay safe online, while giving parents simple controls to support their families,“ Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. YouTube spokesperson José Castañeda said the school district’s claims against the company were ”amicably resolved and our focus remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls that deliver on that promise.” Snap spokesperson Monique Bellamy similarly said they were “pleased” to resolve the case “in an amicable manner.” TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The next case on deck dealing with social media addiction and youth mental health claims is expected to begin in the Los Angeles state court in July. The next federal bellwether case is slated for January.