--- title: New Jersey teen drops claims against Meta, Google, and... description: A 15-year-old New Jersey plaintiff withdrew her social media addiction lawsuit against Meta, Google, and Snap seven weeks before an October bellwether trial in... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/new-jersey-teen-drops-claims-against-meta-google-and-snap-weeks-before-trial-hab74erdo twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: New Jersey teen drops claims against Meta, Google, and Snap weeks before trial | daily.dev og:description: A 15-year-old New Jersey plaintiff withdrew her social media addiction lawsuit against Meta, Google, and Snap seven weeks before an October bellwether trial in... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/new-jersey-teen-drops-claims-against-meta-google-and-snap-weeks-before-trial-hab74erdo og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Hab74ErDO.png og:image:alt: New Jersey teen drops claims against Meta, Google, and Snap weeks before trial og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # New Jersey teen drops claims against Meta, Google, and Snap weeks before trial **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A 15-year-old New Jersey plaintiff withdrew her social media addiction lawsuit against Meta, Google, and Snap seven weeks before an October bellwether trial in Los Angeles, receiving no payment. This is the second bellwether case in a row to be dropped shortly before trial, following a Panama City teen's withdrawal in July. The companies dispute the significance, with Meta citing a pre-existing mental health condition and YouTube and Snap pointing to safety measures. Two other bellwether plaintiffs remain scheduled for October. In March, a jury found Meta and Google liable in the first such trial, awarding $4.2m and $1.8m respectively. The Ninth Circuit previously allowed roughly 2,400 addiction lawsuits to proceed without disturbing Section 230, keeping the design-defect theory alive. Meta is also currently defending a separate trial in Oakland brought by four state attorneys general. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What did the jury decide in the first social media addiction trial against Meta and Google? A California jury found Meta and Google liable in the first bellwether trial over social media addiction claims, awarding $4.2 million against Meta and $1.8 million against Google. The dollar amounts were small, but the verdict was significant because it established a finding of liability, which matters for how the thousands of remaining consolidated claims get valued and eventually settled. _Follow daily.dev for updates on how platform liability rulings could reshape product design decisions._ ### Does Section 230 protect Meta and Google from social media addiction lawsuits? Section 230 does not shield the companies from these particular claims, because the Ninth Circuit allowed roughly 2,400 addiction lawsuits to proceed without disturbing that protection. The plaintiffs argue design features like infinite scroll, autoplay, and notification systems are product defects rather than user-generated content, which keeps the cases outside Section 230's scope and headed toward juries. _daily.dev readers tracking platform accountability can follow how design-defect theories test Section 230's limits._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Snap, YouTube, and TikTok settle school addiction lawsuit, leaving Meta to face trial alone](https://daily.dev/posts/snap-youtube-and-tiktok-settle-school-addiction-lawsuit-leaving-meta-to-face-trial-alone-kaxpukylc) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [YouTube settles ahead of California’s second social-media addiction trial](https://daily.dev/posts/youtube-settles-ahead-of-california-s-second-social-media-addiction-trial-pk0aqkfxn) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [TikTok settles second addiction case, leaving Meta and Snap to face a jury alone](https://daily.dev/posts/tiktok-settles-second-addiction-case-leaving-meta-and-snap-to-face-a-jury-alone-diqywif0g) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#social-media](https://daily.dev/tags/social-media) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/new-jersey-teen-drops-claims-against-meta-google-and-snap-weeks-before-trial-hab74erdo) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"New Jersey teen drops claims against Meta, Google, and Snap weeks before trial","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-jersey-teen-drops-claims-against-meta-google-and-snap-weeks-before-trial-hab74erdo","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-jersey-teen-drops-claims-against-meta-google-and-snap-weeks-before-trial-hab74erdo"},"datePublished":"2026-08-21T07:09:37.746Z","dateModified":"2026-08-21T07:10:00.208Z","description":"A 15-year-old New Jersey plaintiff withdrew her social media addiction lawsuit against Meta, Google, and Snap seven weeks before an October bellwether trial in...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6c02c66b342d3124b28242e19a004725?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6c02c66b342d3124b28242e19a004725?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-jersey-teen-drops-claims-against-meta-google-and-snap-weeks-before-trial-hab74erdo","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"social-media","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New Jersey teen drops claims against Meta, Google, and Snap weeks before trial"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-jersey-teen-drops-claims-against-meta-google-and-snap-weeks-before-trial-hab74erdo#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What did the jury decide in the first social media addiction trial against Meta and Google?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A California jury found Meta and Google liable in the first bellwether trial over social media addiction claims, awarding $4.2 million against Meta and $1.8 million against Google. The dollar amounts were small, but the verdict was significant because it established a finding of liability, which matters for how the thousands of remaining consolidated claims get valued and eventually settled. Follow daily.dev for updates on how platform liability rulings could reshape product design decisions."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Does Section 230 protect Meta and Google from social media addiction lawsuits?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Section 230 does not shield the companies from these particular claims, because the Ninth Circuit allowed roughly 2,400 addiction lawsuits to proceed without disturbing that protection. The plaintiffs argue design features like infinite scroll, autoplay, and notification systems are product defects rather than user-generated content, which keeps the cases outside Section 230's scope and headed toward juries. daily.dev readers tracking platform accountability can follow how design-defect theories test Section 230's limits."}}]} ```