Snap settles with two teens during trial testing claims social media caused depression, eating disorders

Snapchat parent Snap Inc has reached a settlement during a trial over claims brought by two teenagers who say the company designed the platform to be addictive, causing their depression, anxiety and eating disorders, attorneys for the plaintiffs said on Monday.

Jury selection began last week for the trial, the second in Los Angeles state court over claims brought by young people who say they became addicted to social media after Snap, Meta Platforms, TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube designed their platforms to encourage compulsive use.

The plaintiffs had previously settled with Meta, TikTok and YouTube.

"Our ultimate goal is to hold these social media companies accountable for how their actions have impacted millions of children across the country, and these settlements allow us to keep building toward that goal," John Morgan and Emily Jeffcott, trial attorneys for plaintiff K.D.B., said in a statement.

The trial was set to be the first for Snap in the sweeping litigation over social media's impact on teens, after the company settled the other cases that had been scheduled for trial. The company's chief executive, Evan Spiegel, had been expected to testify.

The case had been selected from thousands of pending lawsuits as a bellwether…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business