Google's YouTube has settled a social media addiction case brought by a 15-year-old Florida teen, adding another notch to the growing list of legal headaches for platforms accused of engineering a youth mental health crisis. The teenager, identified only as R.K.C. in court documents, alleged that YouTube and its ilk designed their platforms to be as addictive as a slot machine, but with less chance of winning cash.

"This matter has been amicably resolved," Google spokesman José Castañeda told the BBC, presumably while not mentioning the settlement amount. "Our focus remains on building age-appropriate products and parental controls that deliver on that promise." Because nothing says "age-appropriate" like a platform that auto-plays videos until your eyeballs dry out.

R.K.C. is still suing Instagram-parent Meta, TikTok, and Snap Inc., with a trial set to begin July 27 in Los Angeles. His case will be the second in a series overseen by Judge Carolyn Kuhl, who is wrangling over 1,000 similar lawsuits in California. The first trial, earlier this year, saw a 20-year-old California woman known as K.G.M. win $6 million after a jury found Meta and YouTube liable for mental health effects. That same week, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for misleading users about children's safety. It's almost as if juries are starting to notice a pattern.

R.K.C. claims features like infinite scroll and autoplay turned his phone into a compulsion machine, causing anxiety and sleep deprivation. His attorneys, John Morgan and Emily Jeffcott, noted that "leadership at these social media companies have been strategizing for years to hook children early and maximize their usage." In other words, they were very good at their jobs.

Google, for its part, says it has built YouTube "responsibly" for over a decade, launching YouTube Kids in 2015 as a curated safe space. The company also settled a Kentucky school district case last month, where schools sought changes to addictive features and reimbursement for costs related to student anxiety, depression, and self-harm. The trial was set for mid-June in Oakland, but the companies opted to settle rather than face more jury scrutiny. Another trial brought by US states against Meta is scheduled for August.

So, progress? Sort of. The checks are being written, but the infinite scroll continues to scroll.