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7 November 2026 · Reading time: 2 minutes

Child Safety Litigation Mounts as AI Moves Deeper Into Classrooms

Social media and AI companies face a growing wave of child safety lawsuits over the design of their products. This week brought a Snap settlement and a new suit against Google over its Gemini chatbot in schools, raising questions about whether children's safety is considered before products reach them.

A wave of litigation against major technology companies is intensifying at the same time that the industry is pushing artificial intelligence further into schools. Ongoing jury trials, settlements and related cases against companies including Meta, Google and Snap concern not the content users post but the design of the platforms themselves, and the effects that design can have on children and teenagers.

This week Snap confidentially settled a case alleging that its technology caused severe psychological distress to two teenage users, days before a scheduled trial. Meta, TikTok and YouTube had previously settled with the plaintiffs in the same suit. In a separate action, Google was sued by the parents of a child who allegedly suffered a psychological crisis after using the Gemini chatbot in Google Classroom. The plaintiffs' attorneys allege that Google integrated the tool into school devices despite known risks.

The litigation has turned on product design in part because Section 230, passed in 1996, has long shielded companies from liability for content posted by users. Attorneys and state attorneys general are now applying similar arguments to AI companies, alleging that the design of chat applications can pose risks to children.

Developmental psychologist Kate Blocker, director of research and programs at the nonprofit Children and Screens, said products built to maximise engagement warrant broader systemic changes in design, particularly when children use them. She stressed the importance of testing products for children's developmental safety from the outset, and said the personalised nature of AI chat applications makes their responses to children difficult to predict.

  • Snap settled this week, sparing its chief executive from testifying in a Los Angeles court.
  • In August, Meta agreed to pay nearly 17 billion dollars to settle a child mental health case brought by state attorneys general.
  • Further trials in the federal case involving Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube are scheduled for March.

This reporting is based on an article by CNBC, available at cnbc.com.

Sources