Meta settles with second plaintiff during trial over social media addiction

Meta settled a social media addiction lawsuit with an 18-year-old plaintiff on Friday, avoiding its next bellwether trial, which began jury selection this week.

The case, filed by a woman from Mississippi dubbed “K.D.B.,” alleged her use of Instagram and Snapchat as a child worsened her mental health and contributed to her eating disorder, suicidal thoughts, depression and self-harm.

K.D.B.’s case against Meta and Snap was consolidated with another plaintiff named S.J.’s claims against the company. Their legal teams argue the platforms intentionally designed their platforms to be addictive to young users.

In settling the case, Meta will avoid sitting through another high-profile trial during which CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, were expected to testify. Zuckerberg and Mosseri testified in previous trials over similar claims.

The trial will still move forward next week against Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, the plaintiffs’ attorneys confirmed.

Like K.D.B., S.J. is a teenager from Illinois who said she started using Snapchat at a young age, accessing features like “Snapstreaks” and “Snapscore” along with........

© The Hill