TikTok and Snapchat dodge trial on harm-to-kids lawsuit

TikTok will no longer be on trial when it comes to a lawsuit that claims Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube have platforms that are addicting and harmful to children.

The lawsuit, which involves a 19-year-old plaintiff going only by KGM, says the social networks caused her to become addicted to the apps and led to depression and suicidal thoughts.

‘New families every day … are speaking out and bringing Big Tech to court for its deliberately harmful products.’

TikTok has reportedly decided to settle and agreed in principle just hours before jury selection started in Los Angeles this week. Bloomberg Law reported that along with TikTok, Snap Inc. — owner of Snapchat — also reached a confidential settlement with the woman on January 20.

“Plaintiff KGM and defendant TikTok have reached an agreement in principle to settle her case,” Joseph VanZandt, the woman’s attorney, reportedly said in a statement.

The trial, which will continue with the other social media companies later this year, is just one of many that claim the sites are harmful, addictive, and otherwise have failed to protect children.

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While this is the first case to go to trial, there are thousands of complaints from users and families that have sparked other lawsuits in Santa Fe, New Mexico, New York City, and the Northern District of California.

For example, in the Northern District of California, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube were accused of “relentlessly” pursuing growth and “recklessly” ignoring the impacts their products have on children’s mental health.

In that case, Instagram’s former head of safety and well-being testified that Meta had a “17x” strike policy toward those who reportedly engaged in “trafficking of humans for sex.”

“You could incur 16 violations for prostitution and sexual solicitation, and upon the 17th violation, your account would be suspended,” the former employee claimed, citing internal documents.

Meta strongly denied the claims, stating, “We strongly disagree with these allegations, which rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions in an attempt to present a deliberately misleading picture.”

“The full record will show that for over a decade, we have listened to parents, researched issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teens,” Meta went on.

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Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The settlement between TikTok and KGM should come as no surprise, said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project.

“This was only the first case — there are hundreds of parents and school districts in the social media addiction trials that [have started], and sadly, new families every day who are speaking out and bringing Big Tech to court for its deliberately harmful products,” she said in a statement provided to Blaze News.

If social media apps are found guilty in these trials, it could set a huge precedent for high-value settlements and possibly lead to sweeping regulation for how the sites handle youth accounts.

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