has settled a social media addiction case brought by a 15-year-old in Florida. in a fresh legal blow for online platforms accused of fuelling a mental health crisis among children.
and other social media firms had designed their platforms to be addictive.
"This matter has been amicably resolved. our focus remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls that deliver on that promise," Google spokesman José Castañeda said in a statement to the BBC.
R.K.C. is also suing Instagram-parent Meta, TikTok,. Snap Inc in a trial currently set to begin on 27 July in Los Angeles.
R.K.C.'s allegations will be the second trial in a series being overseen by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl in order to resolve more than 1,000 similar cases in California.
of intentionally designing platforms to be addictive to young users.
She had also sued Snap and TikTok, but both platforms settled before trial for an undisclosed sum.
were liable for their platforms' mental health effects on certain users.
The same week. a jury in New Mexicotold Meta to pay $375mfor misleading users over the safety of its platforms for children.
R.K.C.'s claims are similar to those of K.G.M, according to court documents.
He claims that features like infinite scroll. autoplay, both of which continuously and automatically show users new content on a platform, drove compulsive use that became a type of addiction. It caused him anxiety and sleep deprivation, among other issues.
"As jurors saw in the first bellwether trial, leadership at these social media companies have been strategizing for years to hook children early. maximize their usage," said R.K.C.'s attorneys John Morgan and Emily Jeffcott in a statement.
Kids, a version designed and curated for children.
, Meta, Snap and TikTok of creating a mental health crisis for its students.
All of the companies ultimately decided to settle instead of going to trial.
The school district wanted the companies to change their purportedly addictive features, but also to pay for the costs schools incurred in helping children deal with things like anxiety, depression. even self-harm allegedly driven by their social media use.
The trial was due to begin in mid-June in federal court in Oakland, California, as part of a multi-district litigation (MDL) that includes thousands of similar cases. claims.
Another trialin the MDL brought by US states against Meta is set to proceed in the same court starting in August.
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