Meta settles second teen addiction case; Snap now faces trial alone

What the case is about: These are "bellwether" trials, early test cases picked from a much larger group of lawsuits so both sides can see how juries react before talking about a wider settlement. The consolidated case involves more than 1,600 plaintiffs, including over 350 families and over 250 school districts, by NBC News' count; Courthouse News puts it at more than 2,000. The plaintiffs say Snap designed features such as Snapstreaks, which reward users for messaging every day, plus Snapscores and filters, that push young people into compulsive use, leading to problems including anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm.

The legal shift, in plain words: For years, a 1996 law known as Section 230 shielded apps from lawsuits over what users post. These plaintiffs instead target design choices, such as likes, autoplay, infinite scroll and beauty filters, arguing the companies are responsible for how the products are built, not for users' posts, Courthouse News reported.

Timeline: In March, in the first trial, a jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in a case brought by a plaintiff known as K.G.M.; NBC News reported $3 million in compensatory damages, with Meta 70% responsible, while Courthouse News put the award at $6 million. The companies have appealed. Before the second, plaintiff R.K.C. settled with Google, TikTok and Snap and dropped claims against Meta. In August, Meta settled with dozens of states, agreeing to time limits for teens, no access at night and no notifications during school hours. This week, Meta settled with S.J. and K.D.B.

The companies' case: Meta says it has "spent more than a decade building protections for teens" and that "trials, dismissals and settlements are all common in the bellwether process." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been set to testify in K.D.B.'s trial, Courthouse News reported. Snap says Snapchat "opens to a camera, not a feed" and that the allegations "fundamentally misrepresent the plaintiffs' experiences on Snapchat and how our platform was designed." Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is expected to testify next month.

The plaintiffs' case: K.D.B.'s trial lawyer, Emily Jeffcott, said the families remain "committed to improving safety for kids on social media apps and holding tech companies accountable."

Weak spot: Both sides are spinning settlements whose terms no one outside can see. K.D.B.'s lawyer called hers a "just resolution," while a source close to Meta told Courthouse News it was more of a business decision than a shift in legal strategy; neither claim can be checked while the amounts stay secret.

What's still unknown: Whether Snap settles before Nov. 4, and how a jury weighs claims against an app that, unlike Instagram, does not center on a scrolling feed.

Settlement terms are confidential. Reports differ on some figures: NBC News counts more than 1,600 plaintiffs in the consolidated case and Courthouse News more than 2,000; for the first trial, NBC News reported $3 million in compensatory damages while Courthouse News reported a $6 million award; NBC put Meta's August state settlement at about $18 billion and Courthouse News at up to $17 billion. The claim that the settlement was a business decision comes from an unnamed source close to Meta. The hero photo is a 2005 file photo of the Los Angeles courthouse building; the trial's courthouse was not named in the reports reviewed.