Snap settles teens' social media addiction lawsuit
Summarised from 4 outlets · Updated 2 Nov, 19:03 · Archive
Snapchat parent Snap has settled a trial brought by teenagers claiming the platform was designed to be addictive.
Snap has settled a trial brought by teenagers claiming the company designed Snapchat to be addictive. The settlement was announced on Monday as jury selection was underway in Los Angeles state court. Terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.
The two plaintiffs, a 16-year-old girl from Illinois and an 18-year-old from Mississippi, alleged they developed compulsive habits from using YouTube from age 3 and Snapchat from around age 9. They blamed features such as autoplay and infinite scroll for their depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Snapchat's Chief Executive Evan Spiegel had been expected to testify at trial.
Snap follows Meta Platforms, TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube in settling with the same plaintiffs. Attorneys for the teenagers said their goal remained to hold social media companies accountable for their impact on children. Snap has previously said it rejects claims its platform was designed to addict young people and that it has taken action to make the app a safe place for young users to express themselves.
How it is being reported
- Snap settles lawsuit accusing platform of fueling teen depression and eating disordersThe plaintiffs said they started using YouTube as young as age 3 and other social media platforms at around age 9 and developed compulsive usage habits that they attributed to features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling.TechCrunch · 2 Nov, 19:11
- Snap settles social media addiction lawsuit to avoid trialSnap CEO Evan Spiegel was due to testify in the upcoming trial.Engadget · 2 Nov, 19:09
- Snap settles social media addiction lawsuit, averting trialSnap joins Alphabet, Meta and TikTok in resolving allegations that its social media platform was designed to encourage addictive behavior.CBS News · 2 Nov, 18:45
- Teens settle with Snapchat parent, ending trial against Big Tech over social media addiction claimsJury selection began last week for the trial. The plaintiffs had previously settled with Meta, TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube.New York Post · 2 Nov, 18:16
In this story: Snap · Snapchat · Meta · TikTok · Alphabet · YouTube · Los Angeles · Illinois
This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log
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