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Meta $META +0.47% settled the first U.S. school district case to go to trial over the mental health costs schools say they have incurred because of social media platforms, according to Reuters.
Before Meta reached its agreement, co-defendants Alphabet $GOOGL -1.21%'s YouTube, Snap $SNAP +0.53%, and TikTok had each settled separately with the Breathitt County School District, a small rural Appalachian district in Kentucky whose case had been heading toward a federal courtroom in Oakland, California, with a June 15 trial date.
The district claimed that these platforms were designed to keep young users engaged, which led to anxiety, depression, and self-harm among students. The district wanted more than $60 million, a 15-year mental health program for students, and a court order requiring the companies to remove addictive features from their platforms.
The Breathitt case was important beyond just this district. It was selected as a test case for about 1,200 other school districts making similar claims.
