Snapchat Settlement: Teens End Trial Over Addictive Design Claims

Two teenagers reached a settlement with Snap Inc. on Monday, ending a trial in Los Angeles that had just entered jury selection. The plaintiffs, a 16-year-old girl from Illinois and an 18-year-old from Mississippi, alleged that the company engineered Snapchat to be addictive, leading to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. The agreement came after the other major tech defendants in the case, including Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, had already settled with the pair.

The lawsuit was selected from thousands of pending claims to serve as a bellwether. It was intended to test the legal arguments against the tech giants and potentially guide how similar cases are resolved. This was the first time a Snap trial was set to proceed, as the company had settled other scheduled cases. Evan Spiegel, the company's chief executive, was expected to take the stand but will not now that the matter has been resolved.

Attorneys John Morgan and Emily Jeffcott represented the plaintiffs. In a statement, they said their goal is to hold social media companies accountable for the impact on children across the country. They noted that these settlements allow them to continue building toward that objective. The plaintiffs claim they began using YouTube as early as age 3 and adopted the other platforms around age 9. They pointed to features like autoplay and infinite scroll as the drivers of their compulsive habits.

Snap rejected the notion that its platform was designed to be addictive. A spokesperson said the company has built safeguards, launched safety tutorials, and partnered with experts. The company stated it remains committed to continually strengthening the safety, privacy, and well-being of its community. Other tech firms have also dismissed the idea that they intended to create addiction, arguing instead that they have taken steps to make their apps safe spaces for young people to express themselves.

This settlement occurs against a backdrop of a massive legal push. Thousands of lawsuits are currently in federal and state courts. These cases were filed by individuals, school districts, municipalities, and other government entities. The plaintiffs generally allege that the companies knowingly sought to addict children, contributing to a youth mental health crisis involving anxiety, depression, and suicide. Court records show that approximately 30 states have filed lawsuits against the industry.

Previous rulings have set a precedent for these claims. In March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in the first case to go to trial. The jury awarded a young woman 6 million dollars in damages. Following that decision, the next two teens selected for trial either settled or dropped their claims. The first school district chosen for trial also reached a settlement with all the companies involved.

The financial stakes have grown substantially. In March, Meta lost both phases of a lawsuit brought by New Mexico. A jury ordered the company to pay 375 million dollars after finding it had misled consumers about platform safety. By August, Meta had struck settlements worth up to 18 billion dollars with nearly every state and U.S. territory. These deals resolved lawsuits brought by attorneys general over claims that the platforms harmed teens.

The terms of the Meta deals required changes to how Instagram and Facebook work for teenagers. Meta agreed to restrict teenagers' use of those platforms to two hours a day for the next decade. A portion of the payout, 5 billion dollars, was conditioned on the states reaching similar settlements with Snap, TikTok, and YouTube. The next bellwether trials over social media's impact on teens are scheduled to begin in March, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers.