Meta will avoid the second scheduled bellwether trial over allegations that its platforms are addictive and harmful to teenagers, after the plaintiff withdrew his case just days before proceedings were due to begin in Los Angeles. The case, brought by a 15-year-old Florida claimant identified as R.K.C., had been intended to test legal arguments that social media firms broke the law by designing features that hooked and harmed young users, and its withdrawal means Meta escapes without paying any settlement in this instance.

R.K.C. had already reached undisclosed settlements with TikTok, Snap and YouTube, and his lawyers said he wished to avoid a "gruelling weekslong trial" and focus on his recovery. Meta called the claims baseless, while the wider litigation continues: Meta and YouTube previously lost the first bellwether trial, paying $6 million in damages, and Meta was separately hit with a $375 million penalty in New Mexico. Seven more bellwether cases remain pending in Los Angeles, alongside a separate set of cases in federal court in Oakland, and Meta still faces claims from state attorneys general due in federal court next month.