"Google's YouTube settles social media addiction case with teen", 23 June 2026

Google's YouTube has settled a social media addiction case brought by a 15-year-old in Florida, in a fresh legal blow for online platforms accused of fuelling a mental health crisis among children.

The teenager, who used the initials R.K.C. in court documents, alleged that YouTube and other social media firms had designed their platforms to be addictive...

R.K.C. is also suing Instagram-parent Meta, TikTok, and Snap Inc in a trial currently set to begin on 27 July in Los Angeles.

R.K.C.'s allegations will be the second trial in a series being overseen by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl in order to resolve more than 1,000 similar cases in California.

The first trial occurred earlier this year, in which a 20-year old California woman, known as K.G.M...

A jury ultimately awarded K.G.M $6m (£4.5m), the first time a court had found that Meta and YouTube were liable for their platforms' mental health effects on certain users...

R.K.C.'s claims are similar to those of K.G.M, according to court documents...

Google told the BBC it had built YouTube "responsibly - working with families to give young people safer, more helpful experiences online" for more than a decade...

Another trial in the MDL brought by US states against Meta is set to proceed in the same court starting in August.