SACRAMENTO: A teen girl whose lawsuit was a test case in litigation accusing social media companies of deliberately addicting young people and fueling a mental health crisis dropped her claims against the owners of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat on Thursday, according to a court filing.
The plaintiff, a 15-year-old girl from New Jersey identified in California court records as P. M-Y., had alleged the platforms’ owners — Meta Platforms, Google and Snap Inc contributed to her social media addiction, depression and self-harm.
The companies said she dropped her claims without any payment. TikTok, which was also a defendant in her case, had previously settled her claims.
Emily Jeffcott, an attorney for P.M-Y., said in a statement her client chose to dismiss the remainder of her claims out of a desire to resume her life.
She “initiated this process with the goal of holding social media companies accountable and to push for changes to protect young people like herself,” Jeffcott said.
Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, is defending itself at two trials over claims from states that it designed its platforms to be addictive to children and misled the public about their safety. One trial, which began this week and deals with the claims of 29 states, is proceeding in federal court in Oakland, California, while another, over claims brought by Tennessee, is ongoing in state court in Nashville.
The lawsuits are among thousands brought by individuals, states and school districts against social media companies over claims their platforms harm children. The companies have denied the allegations and say they take extensive steps to keep teens and young users safe on their platforms.
P. M-Y.’s lawsuit was among more than 3,300 personal injury cases brought by individuals that were consolidated in California state court in Los Angeles. It was selected as one of three “bellwether” or test cases scheduled to go to trial in October.
Attorneys often use bellwether verdicts to gauge how juries may view similar claims, helping them assess the potential value of remaining cases and guide settlement negotiations.
“This plaintiff had a significant mental health condition that pre-dated her use of social media, and it’s clear that many of these cases fit the same pattern,” Meta said in a statement, adding that it would vigorously defend against the remaining cases.
In a statement, Google-owned YouTube said the decision to drop the case affirms “our longstanding position that we provide safe, age-appropriate experiences and strong parental controls for young people and families.”
A Snap spokesperson said in a statement the company remains focused on strengthening safeguards, tools and educational resources to support users’ safety, privacy and well-being.
Two other cases brought by teens making similar claims against the same companies are scheduled for trial in October, according to court records. TikTok has already settled those cases.
Another bellwether case ended before trial in July, when a teenage plaintiff dropped his claims against Meta after the other defendants settled.
The first individual trial in the litigation, which ended in March, resulted in verdicts amounting to US$4.2 million against Meta and US$1.8 million against Google in a case brought by a woman who said she became addicted to social media platforms at a young age because of their attention-grabbing design. TikTok and Snap settled that case before trial.
