Snap Settles Child Safety Case as Tech Giants Face More Lawsuits Over Kids and AI

Snap quietly settled with two teenage plaintiffs just days before a Los Angeles trial was due to begin, a deal that also spared CEO Evan Spiegel from taking the stand. The plaintiffs said the company’s product caused severe psychological distress. Meta, TikTok and YouTube had already settled in the same case, which grew out of the personal injury trial Meta and YouTube lost earlier this year. More trials are set for March, and a federal case against Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube is still open, along with claims from school districts and state attorneys general. In August, Meta agreed to pay close to $17 billion to a group of state AGs over child mental health.

Google Gemini Lawsuit and AI in Classrooms

This week parents also sued Google, saying their child suffered a psychological crisis after chatting with the Gemini chatbot in Google Classroom. Their lawyers argue Google rushed Gemini onto school Chromebooks despite known risks. Google says it takes the claims seriously and has worked with medical and academic experts. The New York Times reported that K-12 schools refusing Google’s AI tools for students could lose access to search, which Google ties to how closely the two are linked.

Why Lawyers Focus on Product Design

Section 230, passed in 1996, has long shielded platforms from suits over what users post. That is why attorneys and state AGs now target how products are designed instead of the content itself.