TikTok has a consistent answer to the lawsuits accusing it of harming children: settle, quietly, before a jury sees the evidence. On Monday it did so again.
The company has agreed to settle three cases it was scheduled to fight in October, Reuters reported. The three were bellwethers, test cases drawn from roughly 3,300 suits consolidated in California state court, chosen so both sides could gauge how juries might react. The terms are confidential. TikTok did not comment.
The plaintiffs are teenagers, named only by their initials. They allege that heavy use of the platforms drove addiction, anxiety, depression, self-harm and eating disorders. The companies deny the claims and say they take extensive steps to keep young users safe.
The one that never goes to trial
Look across the whole litigation and a pattern appears. This is not TikTok’s first exit. It settled the very first case before it went to trial in February. It settled again in July. It resolved the first school-district claim too. Across every bellwether so far, TikTok has paid rather than defend itself in front of a jury.
