Meta and other social media firms pay $27 million to settle Kentucky school lawsuit

Meta Platforms, Snap Inc., TikTok owner ByteDance and Google (YouTube) have agreed to pay roughly $27 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by the Breathitt County School District in rural Kentucky. The settlement includes $9 million from Meta, $8 million each from Snap and ByteDance, and about $2 million in cash from Google along with training and software licenses for the district. The case, selected as a bellwether for more than 1,200 similar lawsuits filed by school districts nationwide, alleged that the companies’ platforms addictively design features that exacerbate anxiety, depression and self‑harm among students. None of the companies admitted wrongdoing, but the settlement is expected to increase pressure on them to resolve the remaining cases overseen by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California.