Social Media Giants Pay $27 Million in Landmark School Mental Health Lawsuit

A Kentucky school district has secured approximately $27 million in settlements from Meta Platforms, Snap Inc., Alphabet's YouTube, and ByteDance's TikTok, resolving claims that their platforms fueled a student mental-health crisis.

Meta agreed to pay $9 million, the largest share, in what was a bellwether case for over a thousand similar lawsuits filed by school districts across the U.S. Snap and TikTok each agreed to pay $8 million, while YouTube settled for $2.01 million.

The settlements, reached just weeks before a planned trial, do not require the companies to admit liability or make changes to their platforms. The companies have denied the allegations and say they take extensive steps to keep young users safe.

The Breathitt County School District, serving about 1,600 students in rural Appalachia, had sought over $60 million to fund a 15-year mental health program. The litigation now includes far larger districts, such as Tucson Unified School District, which seeks over $1.1 billion, and the Los Angeles and New York City public school systems.