FILE-Facebook debuts its new company brand, Meta, at their headquarters on October 28, 2021 in Menlo Park, California. (Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Facebook)
Meta settled the first of several lawsuits brought by school districts nationwide that sued social media companies pushing for compensation for costs they claimed were incurred dealing with children’s social media addiction and mental health harms.
A Kentucky school district brought a lawsuit against Meta that was scheduled to go to trial in June in federal court in Oakland, California.
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Meta reached a settlement with the district on Thursday, after settlements earlier this week with the other defendants in the case — TikTok, Snapchat, and Google’s YouTube.
The Associated Press reported that the financial terms of the settlements were not revealed. The school district pushed for over $60 million to design a 15-year program it said would help counteract mental health and learning issues caused by social media.
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Meta’s settlement comes with the Kentucky school district comes after court losses earlier this year for the social media company and YouTube in social media harms lawsuits in California and New Mexico.
Instagram and YouTube found liable in landmark social media trial
Dig deeper:
Meta, the parent of Instagram and Facebook, and Google-owned YouTube were found liable for designing addictive features after a watershed social media trial in Los Angeles.
The California jury’s decision in March was the first-of-its-kind lawsuit. The plaintiff, known by her initials KGM, alleged she became addicted to social media as a child and that it exacerbated her mental health struggles. A jury sided with her and awarded about $6 million in damages.
According to the Associated Press, the jury determined that Meta and YouTube were negligent in the creation or operation of their respective platforms, and that negligence was a substantial factor in causing harm to the plaintiff.
Jurors also determined each company knew their platforms could be dangerous when used by a minor and agreed that they failed to adequately warn of that danger, further contributing to the plaintiff’s harm.
In New Mexico, a jury determined in March that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and hid what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms.
The AP noted that New Mexico jurors sided with state prosecutors who argued that Meta prioritized profits over safety and violated parts of the state’s Unfair Practices Act.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and previous FOX Local reporting. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.