Snap, YouTube, TikTok Settle School Suit Targeting Social Media

Snap Inc., Google’s YouTube and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok reached agreements to settle the first lawsuit headed to trial over claims that addiction to top social media platforms has disrupted learning and pushed public schools to spend massive sums fighting a mental health crisis, according to court filings.

The trio of settlements announced Friday leaves only Meta Platforms Inc. to face off with a rural Kentucky school district in a trial set to begin June 12 in federal court in Oakland, California. The terms of the settlements weren’t disclosed in Friday’s filings.

The trial will serve as a test case for more than 1,200 similar lawsuits nationwide in which school districts allege that the biggest social media companies have harmed students so badly that it’s undermining the education system.

The spate of lawsuits could open the tech companies to a “collective theoretical liability of almost $400 billion,” according to an estimate from Bloomberg Intelligence.

“For more than a decade, we’ve built YouTube responsibly — working with teachers, administrators, and parents’ groups to give students safer, more helpful experiences online,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. “This matter has been amicably resolved and our focus remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls that deliver on that promise.”

In a separate statement, a Snap spokesperson said the parties “are pleased to have been able to resolve this matter in an amicable manner.”

A group of lawyers representing school districts said in a statement that “our focus remains on pursuing justice for the remaining 1,200 school districts who have filed cases.”

TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The June trial is centered on a lawsuit brought by Breathitt County School District in Kentucky, more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) southeast of the state’s capital, Frankfort.

It’s considered a “bellwether” because the case is representative of issues in many of the school district suits against the social media companies, and the outcome of the trial could encourage negotiations for a broad settlement.

Friday’s settlements are the latest in what has been a busy year for child safety-related litigation.

TikTok and Snap previously settled a first-of-its-kind personal injury suit over social media addiction shortly before it went to trial in Los Angeles earlier this year. Meta and Google didn’t settle, and a jury found them liable for harming a 20-year-old woman with products designed to be addictive. Jurors awarded a total of $6 million in damages.

Meta also lost a separate case in New Mexico alleging the company failed to protect children from online predators; jurors assessed a penalty of $375 million on Meta.

The four social media companies face thousands of additional lawsuits from school districts, state attorneys general and individual users.

Read More: Meta Rivals Want No Part of Its Heavy Load of Addiction Lawsuits

For Snap, the collection of lawsuits poses a serious financial threat. The photo and messaging platform is far smaller than the other three companies under scrutiny, and recently saw its first user decline in years, which was at least partly due to growing regulatory backlash over child safety concerns.

For years, Snap has been on a campaign to distance itself from its larger competitors and has claimed that Snapchat is not social media, but an alternative to it.

A trial against Meta in a case brought by dozens of state attorneys general is slated to begin in August, and a defeat for the company could force it to change how its products operate.

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