Meta settles with teen during trial testing claims social media caused depression, eating disorders

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

Oct 30 (Reuters) - Meta Platformshas ⁠settled with a teen plaintiffwho accused the company of designing Instagram and Facebook to be addictive, causing her mental ⁠health problems and disordered eating, attorneys for the plaintiff said on Friday.

The settlement came after jury selection ‌began on Wednesday for a trial that was slated to test the claims of two teens, identified as S.J. and K.D.B., against Meta and Snapchat parent Snap Inc. Meta had settled with S.J. days before the trial, so Friday's settlement with K.D.B. means the trial is expected to proceed against Snap ​only.

“We remain committed to improving safety for kids on social media apps and ⁠holding tech companies accountable, and we are pleased ⁠to have brought this matter to a just resolution on behalf of our client,” Emily Jeffcott, an attorney for K.D.B., said ⁠in ‌a statement.

The trial is the second in Los Angeles state court over claims brought by young people who say they became addicted to social media after Meta, Snap, TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube designed their platforms to encourage compulsive ⁠use.

S.J. and K.D.B. had previously settled with TikTok and YouTube.

The case was selected ​among the thousands of pending lawsuits ‌as a test case, so the jury's verdict could influence how the companies and plaintiffs resolve similar cases.

S.J., ⁠a 16-year-old girl from ​Illinois, and K.D.B., an 18-year-old from Mississippi, say they began using YouTube as early as age 3 and the other platforms around age 9, developing compulsive habits they blame on features such as autoplay and infinite scroll.

The companies have rejected claims their platforms were designed to addict ⁠young people, and say they have taken action to make the apps ​safe places for young people to express themselves.

Social media companies face thousands of lawsuits in federal and state courts by individuals, school districts, municipalities and other government entities alleging the companies knowingly sought to addict children to their platforms, contributing to a youth mental ⁠health crisis involving anxiety, depression and suicide.

In the first case to go to trial, which ended in March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube had been negligent and awarded a young woman $6 million in damages.

The next two teens whose cases were selected for trials either settled or dropped their claims against the companies.

The first school district chosen for trial settled with ​all of the companies.

In August, Meta struck settlements worth up to $18 billion with nearly every ⁠state and US territory to resolve lawsuits brought by attorneys general over the platforms’ harm to teens and agreed to make changes ​to how Instagram and Facebook work for teens.

Earlier this month, a New ‌Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay a $25 billion penalty after a ​jury found the company misled Facebook users about the privacy of their data and how it handles hate speech. The company has said it will appeal.

(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis)

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资料照片：2025年1月18日，在瑞士达沃斯举行的世界经济论坛（WEF）前夕，Meta公司的标志出现在该公司临时展位的入口处。路透社/Yves Herman/资料照片

10 月 30 日（路透社）——原告律师周五表示，Meta Platforms 已与一名青少年原告达成和解。该原告指控该公司将 Instagram 和 Facebook 设计成令人上瘾的应用，导致她出现心理健康问题和饮食失调。

在周三开始进行陪审团遴选后，双方达成和解。原定审判将检验两名青少年（化名 SJ 和 KDB）对 Meta 和 Snapchat 母公司 Snap Inc. 的指控。Meta 在审判前几天已与 SJ 达成和解，因此周五与 KDB 达成的和解意味着审判预计将只针对 Snap 进行。

KDB 的律师艾米丽·杰夫科特在一份声明中表示：“我们始终致力于改善儿童在社交媒体应用程序上的安全，并追究科技公司的责任，我们很高兴能够代表我们的客户将此事公正地解决。”

这是洛杉矶州法院审理的第二起类似案件，原告是一些年轻人，他们声称在 Meta、Snap、TikTok 和 Alphabet 旗下的 YouTube 等社交媒体平台鼓励用户强迫性使用后，他们沉迷于社交媒体。

SJ 和 KDB 此前已分别与 TikTok 和 YouTube 达成和解。

该案从数千起待决诉讼中被选为测试案例，因此陪审团的裁决可能会影响公司和原告如何解决类似案件。

来自伊利诺伊州的 16 岁女孩 SJ 和来自密西西比州的 18 岁女孩 KDB 表示，她们早在 3 岁时就开始使用 YouTube，9 岁左右开始使用其他平台，并养成了强迫性习惯，她们将这种习惯归咎于自动播放和无限滚动等功能。

这些公司否认了有关其平台旨在让年轻人上瘾的说法，并表示他们已采取措施，使这些应用程序成为年轻人表达自我的安全场所。

社交媒体公司在联邦和州法院面临数千起诉讼，原告包括个人、学区、市政当局和其他政府实体，他们指控这些公司明知故犯地试图让儿童沉迷于他们的平台，从而导致青少年心理健康危机，包括焦虑、抑郁和自杀。

在第一起开庭审理的案件中（该案于 3 月份结束），洛杉矶陪审团认定 Meta 和 YouTube 存在过失，并判给一名年轻女子 600 万美元的赔偿金。

接下来两名被选中进行审判的青少年要么与被告公司达成和解，要么撤销了对他们的索赔。

第一个被选为审判对象的学区与所有涉案公司达成了和解。

8 月，Meta 与几乎所有州和美国领土达成和解，赔偿金额高达 180 亿美元，以解决各州总检察长就这些平台对青少年造成的伤害提起的诉讼，并同意改变 Instagram 和 Facebook 对青少年的运作方式。

本月初，新墨西哥州一名法官判处Meta公司支付250亿美元的罚款，此前陪审团认定该公司在Facebook用户的数据隐私保护和仇恨言论处理方面误导了用户。该公司表示将提起上诉。

（Diana Novak Jones报道，Alexia Garamfalvi和Matthew Lewis编辑）

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