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TikTok Settles as Jury Selection Opens in Bellwether Youth-Harm Trial Targeting Meta and YouTube

The bellwether case tests whether product design choices—not third-party content—can create legal liability for alleged youth mental harm.

Overview

  • TikTok reached a confidential settlement hours before proceedings began, following Snap’s Jan. 20 deal, leaving Meta and Google’s YouTube as the remaining defendants in this trial.
  • Jury selection started in Los Angeles County Superior Court with roughly 75 potential jurors questioned daily, and the trial is expected to run six to eight weeks.
  • The plaintiff, a 19-year-old identified as K.G.M., alleges features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, recommendations and notifications fostered addiction and worsened depression and suicidal thoughts.
  • Meta and YouTube dispute causation, point to safety tools and legal protections, and plan to argue that broader factors drive teen mental health outcomes.
  • Executives including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are expected to testify, jurors are slated to see internal documents, and the outcome could shape hundreds of related cases, including a federal bellwether set for June in Oakland.