By Courtney Rozen and Dietrich Knauth
May 21 (Reuters) – Meta Platforms on Thursday settled the first case set for trial seeking to make social media companies cover the costs that school districts say they have incurred to combat a mental health crisis allegedly fueled by platforms.
The agreement fully resolves a lawsuit brought by Breathitt County School District in eastern Kentucky, following earlier settlements by co-defendants Alphabet’s YouTube, Snap and TikTok. The case had been scheduled for a June 15 trial in federal court in Oakland, California.
Breathitt is among roughly 1,200 school districts pursuing similar claims. Its case was selected as a bellwether, or test case, for those lawsuits.
“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,” said a Meta spokesperson.
In a statement, the plaintiff’s attorneys said they had resolved Breathitt’s claims against Meta, adding that “our focus remains on pursuing justice for the remaining 1,200 school districts who have filed cases.”
LAWSUIT SOUGHT OVER $60 MILLION
Breathitt, a small rural district in Appalachia, accused the companies of designing their platforms to keep young users hooked, driving anxiety, depression and self-harm among students and leaving schools to deal with the consequences.
The lawsuit sought over $60 million to cover the costs of counteracting the impact of social media on students’ mental health and to fund a 15-year mental health program to abate the problem. It also sought a court order requiring the companies to modify their platforms to reduce addictive features.
More than 3,300 lawsuits alleging addiction-related harms are pending in California state court against the social media companies. Another 2,400 cases — including those brought by the school districts as well as individuals, municipalities and states — have been centralized in California federal court.
The companies have denied the allegations and say they take extensive steps to keep teens and young users safe on their platforms.
In a landmark trial, a Los Angeles jury on March 25 found Meta and Alphabet’s Google negligent for designing social media platforms that are harmful to young people, awarding a combined $6 million to a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child.
Breathitt’s case had been closely watched as an early test of the school districts’ claims in the sprawling litigation. Judges and attorneys often use bellwether verdicts to assess the potential value of remaining claims and guide settlement talks.
Breathitt is a small district that serves about 1,600 students across six schools, according to federal data, but the litigation also includes far larger districts. DeKalb County, Georgia, which educates more than 90,000 students, has said it is seeking up to $4.3 billion in future mental health costs. The Los Angeles Unified School District and the New York City public school system — together serving more than 1.2 million students — have also sued.
The second phase in a trial in a separate case brought by the state of New Mexico, making similar claims, is expected to end soon.
(Reporting by Courtney Rozen and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Caitlin Webber, David Ljunggren, Rod Nickel)
