YouTube settles social media addiction lawsuit brought by teenager amid tidal wave of court cases

YouTube's owner, Google, has settled a lawsuit brought by a teenager suing the world's biggest social media companies over their role in the youth mental health crisis. 

The 16-year-old's lawyers said the terms of the settlement were confidential, but that TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram are still set to face trial in July.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said‌ the lawsuit had been amicably resolved.

"Our focus remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls," Mr Castaneda said.

The lawsuit will be the second in a series of US trials accusing tech companies of creating harmful and addictive products that have damaged young people.

The plaintiff, a 16-year-old boy from Florida known as RKC, ⁠said he started using social media when he was about eight, according ⁠to court filings.

He became addicted to it, losing sleep and suffering from depression and anxiety, according to the filings.

The trial is scheduled to kick off on 27 July in California.

There are currently around 5,900 lawsuits against social media companies going through California's state and federal courts.

The tidal wave of legal action has been dubbed social media's "tobacco moment", a reference to the 1990s, when tobacco firms faced a series of trials that ultimately held them accountable for selling a product they knew was harmful.

The companies deny the accusations against them and say they take extensive steps to keep their young users safe on their platforms.

The first landmark case ended in March, with a jury deciding YouTube and Instagram were negligent in their care of young people.

The case focused on accusations by a young woman who said she became addicted to the platforms from a young age because of how they were designed.

Meta was ordered to pay $4.2m (£3.2m) in damages and Google $1.8m (£1.36m).

The first trial in federal court, brought by a school district in Kentucky, was supposed to start in June but Meta, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube all settled before the trial.

They paid the district a combined $27m (£20.47m).

Nearly every state in the US has also filed lawsuits against the companies in local courts, accusing them of misrepresenting the safety of their platforms and designing them to be addictive to children.

New Mexico, the first state to go to trial, won its lawsuit against Meta, which was ordered to pay $375m (£284.3m). The company may also be forced to make safety upgrades to its platform as part of the lawsuit.

Social media companies are also facing bans all over the world, alongside the deluge of legal action.

As well as the UK's social media ban for under-16s, announced last week, at least 40 more countries are either deliberating over bans or are putting bans in place for young people, according to Tech Policy Press.

(c) Sky News 2026: YouTube settles social media addiction lawsuit brought by teenager amid tidal wave of court