Snap settles child-safety lawsuit, leaving Meta the last holdout

Snap has become the latest major tech company to settle a lawsuit alleging that social media platforms are harmful to children and young adults, reaching a “tentative” agreement in a case that had been set to go to trial later this month. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Bloomberg reports that Snap confirmed the deal had been reached. Snap did not immediately return a request for comment.

Snap’s settlement follows a string of similar deals from other platforms named in the case. TikTok recently settled its portion of the lawsuit with the plaintiff, identified by the initials “R.K.C.,” ahead of a jury trial that starts next week in Los Angeles. YouTube has also reached a deal, leaving Meta as the only remaining defendant still facing the case.

Meta has already lost similar child-safety lawsuits over social media, including one in New Mexico earlier this year that marked its first courtroom defeat on the issue. In March, a Los Angeles jury handed Meta and Google another defeat, awarding the defendant in that case, who went by “K.G.M.,” or Kaley, $6 million in damages.

These precedents are fueling a wider wave of lawsuits against social media platforms over their purported harms, including claims that addictive design and algorithms negatively affect children’s and teens’ mental health. The outcomes of these cases could push platforms to adopt more robust child-safety measures, parental controls, and other design changes aimed at heading off future litigation.

Why it matters

The wave of settlements suggests social platforms are increasingly choosing to resolve child-safety lawsuits rather than fight them in court, a trend that could push the industry toward more robust parental controls and safety design — with Meta now standing alone as the last defendant still contesting the case.