Alphabet's YouTube and Snap have reached settlements in the first scheduled trial of a series of lawsuits seeking to hold social media platforms accountable for costs incurred by school districts in addressing a youth mental health crisis, which the districts allege the companies have fueled.
Court documents filed on Friday in the federal court in Oakland, California, detailed the settlements, resolving claims from a Kentucky school district. That district is still set to proceed with a trial against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, on June 15.
The terms of the settlement with the Breathitt County School District in rural eastern Kentucky were not disclosed.
"The matter has been resolved amicably, and our focus remains on developing age-appropriate products and parental controls to fulfill this commitment," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.
Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, did not respond to requests for comment.
Currently, more than 3,300 lawsuits involving addiction allegations remain pending in California state courts, all targeting social media companies. An additional 2,400 cases brought by individuals, municipalities, states, and school districts have been consolidated in federal court in California.
In a landmark trial, a Los Angeles jury ruled on March 25 that Meta and Alphabet's Google were negligent in designing social media platforms that harmed young people. The jury awarded a total of $6 million to a 20-year-old woman who claimed she had been addicted to social media since childhood.
The companies have denied the allegations and stated they have implemented extensive measures to ensure the safety of teens and young users on their platforms.
The Breathitt County School District is one of over a thousand districts suing social media companies, accusing them of contributing to a student mental health crisis and then shifting the consequences onto schools.
The district sought more than $60 million in damages to offset the impact of social media on student mental health and to fund a 15-year mental health program aimed at mitigating the issue.
The district also sought a court order requiring the companies to modify their platforms to reduce addictive features.
This case served as a "bellwether" or test case for thousands of similar school district lawsuits.
Judges and attorneys often use bellwether verdicts to assess the potential value of remaining claims and to guide settlement negotiations. Typically, a few bellwether cases are tried before broader resolutions are reached.
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