TikTok has agreed to settle with the plaintiff in a high-profile lawsuit over the alleged harms of social media, removing the video-sharing platform from a landmark trial set to begin Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
An attorney for the plaintiff confirmed that while TikTok will no longer be part of the proceedings, the trial will go ahead as planned against Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s YouTube.
Landmark case moves forward without TikTok
The Los Angeles case is the first in a series of major social media trials scheduled for 2026.
The lawsuits focus on whether product design and marketing practices caused widespread harm, a strategy that plaintiffs’ attorneys are now seeking to apply to social media platforms.
The current case centres on allegations that the design of popular social media and streaming video apps—including Instagram and YouTube—caused harm to the mental well-being of teenagers and young adults by fostering addictive behaviour.
The plaintiff argues that features such as recommendation algorithms, notifications and engagement-driven design kept young users hooked, contributing to anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.
By settling, TikTok avoids becoming the first major platform to face a jury in this particular trial, though it remains exposed to similar claims elsewhere.
Design-based legal strategy
The lawsuits represent a deliberate shift in legal strategy. Rather than focusing on specific user-generated content, which technology companies have long argued is protected under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, plaintiffs are targeting the design and functionality of the platforms themselves.
By emphasising alleged design flaws, attorneys aim to sidestep Section 230 protections and argue that the platforms’ own product decisions—rather than individual posts or videos—are responsible for harm to young users.
Last week, Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, also reached a settlement with the same plaintiff and is no longer a defendant in the Los Angeles trial, further narrowing the case to Meta and YouTube.
More trials ahead for Big Tech
Despite its exit from this case, TikTok remains a defendant in other personal injury lawsuits, according to attorneys for the plaintiff.
The resolution in Los Angeles does not shield the company from broader legal exposure as scrutiny of social media’s impact on children intensifies.
Another major trial is set to begin next week in Santa Fe, New Mexico, involving Meta Platforms.
In that case, the New Mexico Attorney General alleges that Meta failed to adequately safeguard its apps, leading to the exploitation of children by online predators.
Later this year, a separate federal trial in the Northern District of California is scheduled to begin, involving TikTok, Meta, YouTube and Snap.
In that case, the companies will collectively argue against allegations that the design of their apps led to unhealthy and addictive behaviours among teens and children.
Operational issues add to scrutiny
TikTok’s legal challenges come at a time when its US operations are already under strain.
Since the company restructured its US business into an independent joint venture to comply with a national security law, users have reported a wave of technical glitches and errors.
TikTok has said those disruptions were caused by a power outage at one of its data centres.
Some users, however, have complained that the issues coincided with what they described as unexplained content restrictions, including alleged censorship of certain political information.
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