Meta settles social media addiction case with US school district

Meta has reached a settlement with a US school district which had sued the Instagram-owner over the costs of fighting a mental health crisis allegedly caused by the company's social media platforms. Breathitt School District, located in the US state of Kentucky, had been poised to litigate the first case attempting to make social media companies cover those costs. The school district settled the same case last week with three other defendants: TikTok, Snap Inc, and Google's YouTube. "We've resolved this case amicably," a Meta spokesperson said on Thursday of the agreement, which allows it to avoid mounting a defence at this trial, although similar cases remain set for trial in the near future. Breathitt County School District's case was chosen as a test case for more than a thousand US school districts which have pursued claims against social media companies. The school district alleged the companies deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive, resulting in harms ranging from anxiety and depression to self-harm. It was seeking $60m (£44.7m) in damages to pay for fighting social media's impacts on students, as well as an abatement program. The district also wanted the comp