TikTok to settle with teen plaintiff before California social media trial, law firm says – WDEZ

June 30 (Reuters) – TikTok has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a teenager who claimed the platform damaged his mental health, a spokesperson for the plaintiff’s law firm said Tuesday. The settlement was reached in principle, but ​the details have not yet been finalized, according to a spokesperson for ‌Morgan & Morgan, which represents the plaintiff, a 15-year-old boy from Florida known by his initials R.K.C. TikTok representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. R.K.C.’s case is expected to be the second trial in California state court over claims social media platforms have been designed to be addictive to children, ‌spurring ​a youth mental health crisis. R.K.C., who started using social ⁠media when he was about 8, ⁠said he became addicted to it, losing sleep and suffering from depression and anxiety, according to court filings. He originally named four defendants in his lawsuit — Google’s YouTube, Meta’s Instagram, Snap Inc’s Snapchat and ByteDance’s TikTok. YouTube settled in June, while ​Meta and Snapchat remain scheduled for a trial set to kick off July 27. THOUSANDS OF CASES More than 3,300 lawsuits involving addiction claims against social media companies are ⁠pending in California state court. Another 2,600 cases
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