Meta avoids trial as social media addiction lawsuit is withdrawn

A social media addiction lawsuit against Meta has been dropped, sparing the company a jury trial set to begin in Los Angeles Superior Court this week.

The plaintiff, a Florida teenager identified as R.K.C., withdrew the case without receiving payment from Meta, according to the company's statement. The withdrawal came a day after Snap tentatively settled with the same plaintiff, leaving Meta as the sole defendant. TikTok and YouTube had previously reached their own settlements.

The case was part of a broader wave of litigation—thousands of similar lawsuits filed by teenagers, schools, and state attorneys general—alleging that major tech platforms deliberately designed addictive features into their apps. Key mechanisms at issue included infinite scroll functionality and persistent notification systems.

Meta had prepared a defense centered on usage patterns. The company planned to argue that the plaintiff used Facebook and Instagram for only minutes per day on average and that most of his accounts were created after he retained legal counsel.

The dismissal arrives on the heels of significant legal setbacks for Meta. In a New Mexico case earlier this year, the company suffered its first courtroom defeat over social media harms, resulting in $375 million in penalties after a finding that Meta had misled consumers about platform safety and endangered children. In March, a Los Angeles jury awarded $6 million in damages in another case involving Meta and Google.

In a statement, Meta said the outcome "makes clear that we will not back away from defending ourselves against baseless lawsuits." The company did not elaborate on the plaintiff's reasoning for withdrawal.