Tiktok settles social media addiction lawsuit ahead of trial

Tiktok agreed to settle ‍a social media addiction lawsuit on Tuesday, according to ⁠one of the plaintiff's lawyers.

The case involves a 19-year-old from California, identified as K.G.M., who said she ‌became ‌addicted to social media platforms at a young age because ‌of their attention-grabbing design, according to court filings. She blames her depression and suicidal thoughts on the apps she used and is ​seeking to hold the companies ​that designed them responsible.

K.G.M. "reached an agreement in ‌principle ‍to settle her case" with ‍TikTok, said Joseph VanZandt, a lawyer for ‌K.G.M.


Jury selection in the trial begins Tuesday. K.G.M.'s case is one of three scheduled test cases, known as "bellwether" trials, chosen from hundreds of related lawsuits accusing the platforms of harming youth.

The company did not ‍immediately respond to a request from Reuters for more details about the ‍settlement.

K.G.M.'s ⁠lawsuit named four ⁠defendants: YouTube, Meta, Snap and TikTok. Snap settled with K.G.M. on January 20. A Snap spokesperson and plaintiff's attorneys declined to provide details to Reuters about that agreement.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify as part of the trial.