A 15-year-old Florida boy known as RKC has withdrawn his lawsuit against Meta days before the case was due to go to trial in Los Angeles, in a claim that alleged Instagram had contributed to his depression and anxiety. The withdrawal is a win for Meta, which had faced a wave of litigation accusing it and other platforms of deliberately designing addictive products that harm young users, and comes shortly after the company suffered a high-profile courtroom defeat on similar allegations.

RKC's case originally named YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok as defendants; YouTube and TikTok settled in June, while Snap reached a tentative settlement, all on confidential terms, leaving Meta as the sole remaining defendant before the claim was dropped without payment. His lawyers said he wished to avoid a lengthy trial and focus on recovery, while Meta insisted the claims "never held up". The case follows a March trial in which a jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $6m in damages over addictive design, and a separate ruling that saw Meta hit with $375m in civil penalties in a New Mexico case; Meta is appealing the earlier verdict, and more than 2,000 further plaintiffs, including school districts and state attorneys general, have similar suits pending.