Snap settles lawsuit accusing platform of fueling teen depression and eating disorders

Snap has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by eight families who accused the platform of contributing to teen depression and eating disorders, marking the first settlement of its kind among major social media companies facing similar claims. The plaintiffs, who began using YouTube as young as age 3 and other platforms around age 9, alleged that features like autoplay and infinite scrolling fostered compulsive usage habits that harmed their mental health. The settlement comes as Snap and peers including Meta, TikTok, and Google face hundreds of similar suits consolidated in federal court in Oakland, California, before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Snap did not admit wrongdoing. The outcome could pressure other defendants to settle and shape how platforms design engagement features for minors; watch for whether Meta, TikTok, and Google follow with their own settlements and for further rulings in the multidistrict litigation.