Snap settles with two teens mid-trial over social media addiction claims
Snapchat owner Snap Inc reached a settlement with two teenagers during a trial in Los Angeles, their lawyers said on Monday. The teens say the app was built to be addictive and caused their depression, anxiety and eating disorders.
Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, has settled with two teenagers in the middle of a trial in Los Angeles state court, Reuters reported. The plaintiffs' attorneys announced the deal on Monday. The teens claim Snap designed its platform to be addictive. They say this caused their depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Jury selection began last week. It was the second trial in Los Angeles state court brought by young people who say they became hooked on social media. They accuse Snap, Meta Platforms, TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube of designing their platforms to encourage compulsive use. The two plaintiffs had already settled with Meta, TikTok and YouTube. The plaintiffs are S.J., a 16-year-old girl from Illinois, and K.D.B., an 18-year-old from Mississippi. According to Reuters, they say they started using YouTube as early as age three and the other platforms at around age nine. They blame features such as autoplay and infinite scroll for their compulsive habits. John Morgan and Emily Jeffcott, trial attorneys for K.D.B., said their goal is to hold social media companies accountable for the impact on millions of children across the US. They said the settlements let them keep building toward that goal. A Snap spokesperson said the…
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