Snap has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of designing Snapchat in a way that causes addiction and harms mental health.
According to multiple reports, the deal was announced on Tuesday in a California court in Los Angeles, just days before the case was set to go to trial. The lawsuit was filed by a 19-year-old, known in court as K.G.M., who claimed Snapchat’s algorithms and features made users addicted and affected their mental health. The terms of the settlement were not made public.
The case also names other big platforms like Meta, YouTube, and TikTok, but they have not settled yet. Snap is still facing other similar addiction-related lawsuits. Court documents show that some Snap employees had raised concerns about the mental health impact on teens as far back as nine years ago. Snap says those examples were taken out of context and do not reflect the company’s full efforts to protect users.
Plaintiffs are comparing these cases to the famous lawsuits against cigarette companies in the 1990s, saying tech companies hid the risks of their products. They argue that features like infinite scroll, auto-play videos, and algorithmic recommendations are designed to keep people hooked, which can lead to problems like depression, eating disorders, and self-harm.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel was supposed to testify, and this would have been the first time a social media company faced a jury in an addiction lawsuit. Now, the focus shifts to the remaining case against Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, with jury selection starting January 27. If plaintiffs win, experts say it could lead to huge settlements and force platforms to redesign how their apps work. The companies, however, argue that their design choices are similar to how newspapers choose stories and are protected as free speech under the law.
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