Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has settled a lawsuit filed by a school district in Kentucky before the case reached court. The school had accused Meta of intentionally designing its platforms to addict children like cigarettes.
The Kentucky school district had sued the major social media companies, claiming that their platforms were causing students psychological harm, including anxiety, depression, and self-harm.
In addition to Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube have also reached confidential settlements with the school district, with the details of these agreements kept under wraps.
In the lawsuit, the school sought over $60 million in damages for a 15-year program to treat and remediate students' mental health issues and related problems.
Furthermore, attorneys pushed the court to demand that Meta quickly remove features such as "infinite scroll," which traps children in the app, and "autoplay," which automatically plays videos, among other addictive functions.
Meta's side stated that the case has been resolved smoothly, and the company will focus on systems to keep teenagers safe online and enable parental controls.
However, Meta's troubles are far from over. More than 1,200 school districts across the United States are queued up to sue these companies, claiming they are damaging children's mental health.
In March of last year, Meta and YouTube lost a similar case in Los Angeles and had to pay $6 million to a young girl. In New Mexico, the state ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties after it allegedly allowed child sexual abuse material. Major social media giants are facing intense pressure.
Ref: The Guardian
