Social media companies pay $27 million to settle Kentucky school district’s lawsuit over social media harms, records show
May 29 (Reuters) - A Kentucky school district secured approximately $27 million in settlements from social media companies over claims they fueled a student mental‑health crisis, with Meta Platforms paying the largest amount at $9 million, according to records seen by Reuters on
May 29 (Reuters) - A Kentucky school district secured approximately $27 million in settlements from social media companies over claims they fueled a student mental‑health crisis, with Meta Platforms paying the largest amount at $9 million, according to records seen by Reuters on Friday that reveal the settlement's financial terms for the first time.
Meta settled the case brought by Breathitt County School District on May 21, a few weeks before a planned June trial, following earlier settlements by co-defendants Snap Inc, YouTube parent Alphabet and TikTok parent ByteDance. Terms of the deals had not been disclosed in court.
Alphabet paid $2.01 million to settle the case; Snap paid $8 million and ByteDance paid $8 million, according to copies of the settlement agreements that Reuters obtained from the school district via a public records request.
The companies have denied the allegations and say they take extensive steps to keep teens and young users safe on their platforms.
When the settlements were announced, Meta, Snap and YouTube said they had resolved the claims amicably. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said after the announcement that their focus is now on pursuing similar claims brought by 1,200 other school districts.
The Breathitt school district, which is in a rural county in Appalachia, accused the companies of designing their platforms to keep young users hooked, driving anxiety, depression and self-harm among students and leaving schools to deal with the consequences.
The school district was seeking over $60 million to cover the costs of counteracting social media's impact on students’ mental health and to fund a 15-year mental health program to abate the problem. It had also asked for a court order requiring the companies to modify their platforms to reduce addictive features.
Breathitt's case was slated to be the first among the school districts' cases, which have been consolidated in federal court in California, to go to trial. It had been closely watched as a bellwether or test case of the school districts' claims in the sprawling litigation. Judges and attorneys often use bellwether verdicts to assess the potential value of remaining claims and guide settlement talks.
