TikTok reaches out-of-court settlement with teenagers over social media addiction lawsuit
TikTok has agreed to settle three lawsuits filed by teenagers who claimed the social app was designed to be addictive and damage their mental health.
The plaintiffs’ names were protected and represented only with their initials because they were minors.
Joseph VanZandt, the lawyer representing the teenagers, did not disclose the terms of the deal, saying it was not yet finalised.
Among the plaintiffs are 15-year-old S.J. from Illinois, P.M.Y., another 15-year-old girl based in New Jersey, and K.D.B., who is 18 years old from Mississippi.
S.J. claimed suffering depression, self-harm, eating disorder, anxiety and addiction because of TikTok. P.M.Y. and K.D.B made similar allegations.
Their cases were selected as bellwethers from a pool of over 3000 lawsuits filed before Judge Carolyn Kuhl, who is sitting over consolidated allegations of addiction against social media platforms like Snapchat, Meta, Google and YouTube.
A similar case that ended in trial earlier this year concluded with a $4.2 million ruling against Meta and another $1.8 million against Google following claims of addiction by a young woman. TikTok and Snap were able to settle with the woman to end the case before it could proceed to trial.
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