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Google’s YouTube reached a settlement with a minor who sued multiple social media platforms for allegedly impacting his mental health, lawyers announced Tuesday.
The settlement, the terms of which are confidential, comes nearly a month away from the trial’s July 27 state date in Los Angeles. The case was brought by a minor known as “R.K.C.” against YouTube, Meta, Snap, and TikTok.
Attorneys for R.K.C. allege the social media companies were negligent about the safety risks of their platforms and designed their platforms to increase minors’ engagement and earn advertising revenue. They argue the minor dealt with binge eating, suicidality, panic attacks, and a sleep disorder as a result of the platforms’ negligence.
Like the hundreds of other kids’ safety cases filed across the country, the platforms are accused of failing to adequately warn R.K.C. and his parents about the physical and mental health risks of their products, and their data tracking practices.
The case is expected to be the second bellwether trial for these types of lawsuits, following the “K.G.M” trial in March, when a California jury determined Meta and YouTube were negligent in their design or operation of the platforms and ordered the companies to pay a combined $6 million to plaintiffs.
The case, brought by a 20-year-old named K.G.M., consolidated thousands of lawsuits brought by individuals, school districts and states against multiple social media companies. Lawyers said K.G.M. became addicted to the platforms, prompting or worsening mental health issues.
“YouTube’s decision to resolve this case before having to face a jury speaks for itself,” Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan and attorney Emily Jeffcot, lawyers for R.K.C., said in a statement. “As jurors saw in the first bellwether trial, leadership at these social media companies have been strategizing for years to hook children early and maximize their usage with insidious features like autoplay and infinite scroll, all with the aim of increasing profits at the expense of the mental health of our youth.”
When reached for comment, José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, said the matter has been “amicably resolved and our 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,” he added.
A day before the K.G.M. verdict, a New Mexico jury found Meta liable for compromising children’s safety online and violating the state’s Unfair Practices Act, which prohibits unfair, deceptive and misleading business ventures across the state. The jury awarded $375 million in damages.
The back-to-back verdicts sent a warning shot to Big Tech, as it was the first time juries found the social media platforms liable for their impact on kids and teens. Legal experts told The Hill the successful verdicts could pave the way for similar outcomes in other trials.
Last month, Meta, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok, settled another social media addiction lawsuit just weeks before its expected start this month.
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