TikTok Settles with Florida Teen, Meta and Snap to Trial

TikTok has reached a confidential settlement with a Florida teenager, removing the platform from a major trial scheduled to begin on July 27 in Los Angeles. The agreement leaves Meta and Snap as the remaining defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges the companies designed addictive social media platforms that harmed the plaintiff's mental health.

The plaintiff is a 15-year-old boy identified in court filings as R.K.C. His case is the second bellwether trial in a sprawling multi-district litigation encompassing thousands of similar complaints. He accuses the platforms of using features like infinite scroll and autoplay to foster addiction. According to his attorneys, he began using social media at age eight and has since been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder linked to that use. He started therapy in 2023 for these conditions, including suicidal ideation.

The settlement follows a pattern for TikTok, which also settled the first bellwether case before it went to trial earlier this year. That first trial concluded in March with a jury finding Meta and Google's YouTube liable and awarding $6 million in damages to a 20-year-old plaintiff....