January 29, 2026 TikTok has agreed to settle a social media addiction lawsuit just days before the case was set to go before a jury. The settlement was confirmed by attorneys for the plaintiffs, though its terms were not disclosed.
The deal comes as jury selection begins this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court for claims that social media platforms deliberately designed addictive products that harmed young users. The case names TikTok, Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube as defendants. A fourth company, Snap Inc., settled last week for an undisclosed amount.
At the center of the lawsuit is a 19-year-old plaintiff identified only as “KGM.” Joseph VanZandt, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement on Tuesday that TikTok remains a defendant in other personal injury cases tied to the same allegations. The trial will proceed as scheduled against Meta and YouTube.
KGM alleges that her use of social media from an early age led to addiction and worsened depression and suicidal thoughts. The lawsuit argues that this harm was not incidental but the result of deliberate design choices aimed at maximizing youth engagement and advertising revenue.
“Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, Defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” the complaint states.
If successful, the argument could bypass the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally protects platforms from liability over user-generated content.
Jury selection is expected to last several days, with as many as 75 potential jurors questioned daily. The trial itself is projected to run six to eight weeks, with executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, expected to testify.
Meta and Google dispute the claims. In a recent blog post, Meta said lawsuits blaming teen mental health struggles on social media “oversimplify a serious issue,” arguing that adolescent well-being is shaped by many factors, including academic pressure, safety concerns, socio-economic stress and substance abuse.
A Meta spokesperson said Monday that the company “strongly disagrees” with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”
José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson, said allegations against YouTube are “simply not true,” adding that “providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.”
The case is the first in a wave of lawsuits set to move forward this year. In June, a federal bellwether trial in Oakland, California, will address claims brought by school districts alleging social media platforms harmed children’s mental health. More than 40 state attorneys general have also sued Meta, accusing the company of deliberately designing Instagram and Facebook features that addict minors. In New Mexico, jury selection begins next week for a separate trial alleging Meta failed to protect children from sexual exploitation on its platforms.
