Google’s YouTube reaches settlement in lawsuit alleging child social media addiction

Google’s YouTube has settled a social media addiction case brought by a 15-year-old in Florida who accused the platform of causing mental health harms to children, according to the plaintiff’s lawyers.

The terms of the settlement in the state court lawsuit against the social media giant were confidential, the lawyers said on Tuesday.

“YouTube’s decision to resolve this case before having to face a jury speaks for itself. We will continue fighting on behalf of all those affected by social media addiction to bring these companies to justice and compel them to prioritize the safety of their young users over their bottom lines,” the plaintiff’s lawyers said in a statement, according to Reuters.

“We will continue fighting on behalf of all those affected by social media addiction to bring these companies to justice and compel them to prioritize the safety of their young users over their bottom lines.”

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Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement to FOX Business that the lawsuit had been amicably resolved and that the company’s focus “remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls that deliver on that promise.”

“For more than a decade, we’ve built YouTube responsibly — working with families to give young people safer, more helpful experiences online,” Castañeda said.

The teenager, who used the initials R.K.C. in court documents, argued that YouTube and other social media companies had designed their platforms to be addictive.

He said he started using social media when he was about 8 years of age and allegedly became addicted, losing sleep and suffering from depression and anxiety.

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R.K.C. is also suing Meta, TikTok and Snapchat in a trial set to begin next month in Los Angeles.

More than 3,300 lawsuits involving addiction claims against social media companies are pending in California state court, while another 2,600 cases brought by people, school districts, municipalities and states are pending in California federal court.

The first trial ended in March after a woman claimed ⁠she became addicted to YouTube and Instagram at a ​young age because of their attention-grabbing design. She had accused the companies of intentionally making their platforms addicting to child users.

A jury in that case found the companies negligent, ordering Meta to pay her $4.2 million in damages and Google to pay $1.8 million. Earlier this month, the judge rejected the companies’ effort to overturn the verdict.

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The woman had also sued TikTok and Snapchat, but both platforms settled before trial for an undisclosed total.

A jury in New Mexico also ordered Meta earlier this year to pay $375 million for misleading users over the safety of its platforms for children.

Google, Meta, Snapchat and TikTok also settled a case last month that was heading to trial in which a Kentucky school district accused the platforms of creating a mental health crisis for its students. 

The platforms paid a collective $27 million to settle that case.

Meta will also face a trial in a lawsuit brought by Tennessee next month. In August, a trial in federal court over the combined claims of multiple states will go forward against the social media giant. 

Reuters contributed to this report.