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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Dara Kerr and agencies

US teen drops Meta lawsuit on social media addiction days before trial

Meta Lawsuit TikTok SNAP
A silhouetted person holds a smartphone, looking down at the screen in dim lighting
RKC, who started using social media when he was about eight, said he became addicted to it. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

A Florida teen whose lawsuit claimed Meta’s platforms were to blame ⁠for his depression ⁠and anxiety ​dropped his case against the company just days before the trial in Los Angeles was ⁠set to start, his attorneys said on Wednesday. It was the latest in a series of high-stakes lawsuits against social media companies for allegedly designing addictive products that lead to the harm of children.

The lawsuit, brought by a 15-year-old boy known as ⁠RKC, originally named four defendants, Google’s YouTube, Meta’s Instagram, Snap Inc’s ​Snapchat and ByteDance’s TikTok. YouTube and TikTok ‌settled in June and Snap reached a tentative settlement in the case, Bloomberg ‌reported on Monday. The terms of those settlements were confidential.

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