Meta settles with second teen plaintiff in Los Angeles social media addiction trial

Meta Platforms settled on Friday with K.D.B., an 18-year-old from Mississippi who alleged that Instagram and Facebook were designed to be addictive and caused her mental health problems and disordered eating, her attorneys said. The settlement came after jury selection began Wednesday in Los Angeles in a trial over claims by K.D.B. and S.J., a 16-year-old girl from Illinois, against Meta and Snapchat parent Snap. Meta had already settled with S.J., and TikTok and YouTube had earlier settled with both plaintiffs. Terms are confidential. Snap is now the only defendant, and opening statements are set for Nov. 4. The 2023 suit alleges Snap built features such as Snapstreaks, Snapscores and filters to maximize young users' time and trigger compulsive use. Emily Jeffcott, K.D.B.'s trial counsel, said the team remains committed to improving kids' safety and is pleased with a just resolution. A Meta spokesperson said trials, dismissals and settlements are common in the bellwether process and the company will keep defending itself in similar cases.

The New York Post, on the right, carries a wire-style account that leads with the settlement and the depression and eating-disorder claims. It stresses that the case was picked as a test case from thousands of pending lawsuits, so a verdict could shape other resolutions. It also gives the plaintiffs' ages and home states and says they began using YouTube as early as age 3 and the other platforms around age 9. On the left, CBS News headlines the settlement as averting trial and quotes the Meta spokesperson on the bellwether process. It also notes that terms were undisclosed and that lead plaintiffs' counsel had not responded. NBC News frames it as a second plaintiff settling, names Snap's specific features, and calls it the fourth bellwether in a consolidated group. Both sides carry the same Jeffcott quote and agree on the basic facts. Reuters and The Hill largely track these accounts.