Kentucky School District Secures $27 Million from Meta and Other Social Media Companies
A Kentucky school district has secured roughly $27 million in settlements from Meta Platforms and other social media companies over claims they fuelled a student mental-health crisis. The settlement with Meta, which agreed to pay the most at $9 million, was reached on May 21, just weeks before a planned June trial.
The operator of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp settled the case brought by Breathitt County School District following settlements by co-defendants Snap Inc, YouTube parent Alphabet, and TikTok parent ByteDance. The settlements did not require the companies to admit liability or make changes to their social media platforms.
YouTube agreed to pay $2.01 million to settle the case, while Snap and TikTok agreed to pay $8 million each. Meta, YouTube, and Snapchat representatives said in separate statements that they have resolved the case amicably and continue to focus on tools and features meant to keep users safe.
The school district accused the companies of designing their platforms to keep young users hooked, leading to anxiety, depression, and self-harm among students. The district was seeking over $60 million to cover the costs of counteracting social media’s impact on students’ mental health and to fund a 15-year mental health program.
Breathitt is a small district serving about 1,600 students across six schools, but the litigation also includes far larger districts such as Tucson Unified School District in Arizona and Los Angeles Unified School District. Meta has warned investors that legal and regulatory backlash over youth social media issues could significantly impact its business and financial results.