Teenager drops social media addiction lawsuit against Meta

Teenager drops social media addiction lawsuit against MetaImage source, ReutersImage caption, Teens and parents have increasingly claimed ill-effects of social media use.ByLily Jamali, North America Technology correspondent and Kali Hays, Technology reporterPublished22 July 2026, 19:57 BSTUpdated 4 minutes agoA Florida teenager who sued Meta claiming that he was addicted to and harmed by his use of platforms, such as Instagram, has dropped his case.The 15-year-old plaintiff, known by the initials R.K.C., had in recent weeks settled the same claims against TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, all of which have been accused in a large lawsuit of creating addictive platforms harmful to children.R.K.C.'s claims were to go before a Los Angeles jury next week as part of court proceedings that have seen Meta and YouTube lose once already.A Meta spokeswoman told the BBC: "The claims never held up, and this outcome makes clear that we will not back away from defending ourselves against baseless lawsuits."Lawyers for R.K.C., Emily Jeffcott and Rahul Ravipudi, told the BBC that the young plaintiff "came into this process wanting to hold social media companies accountable and push for changes to protect young people like himself". "He did that," they added.The lawyers noted concerns about a jury trial stretching on for weeks and said R.K.C. was "ready to close this chapter and focus on his recovery and engage in therapy as he aspires to have a normal life".The Meta spokeswoman said he received no payment for dropping his claims. R.K.C. had claimed that common social media features such as infinite scroll and autoplay, both of which continuously and automatically show users new content on a platform, drove compulsive use that became a type of addiction. He argued it caused him anxiety and sleep deprivation, among other issues.Meta and YouTube faced similar accusations from a young woman during the initial trial.A jury ultimately found them...