SAN FRANCISCO — Meta on Friday settled its latest lawsuit over child social media addiction that was headed to trial, delaying its ongoing legal battle amid a string of recent setbacks.

The case, brought by an 18-year-old Mississippi woman and set to go to trial in Los Angeles Superior Court next week, was the fourth of nine bellwether personal injury lawsuits against Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap over claims the companies’ products are addictive like cigarettes. YouTube and TikTok also settled similar claims with the Mississippi teenager, identified only by her initials as K.D.B., leaving Snap as the lone company expected to defend itself in court.

The bellwether cases were picked by a California Superior Court judge from thousands of similar lawsuits and could lead to massive financial penalties and settlements for the tech companies. They also test a novel legal theory that social media features like infinite scroll and algorithmic feeds can cause personal injury.

Meta and YouTube lost the first case in March filed by a young California woman, identified as K.G.M., who had accused the companies of negligence and personal injury for their addictive features. A jury found the companies liable of harming her with the design of their platforms and awarded her $6 million in damages. Two of the other cases against Meta were dropped.

Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, has faced a series of payouts in recent months amid lawsuits over claims of harms to children and privacy abuses.

In August, Meta reached a landmark settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties for harm caused by its platforms. Texas received an additional $1 billion to settle similar claims.

The financial terms of other settlements, including the one Friday and with a Kentucky school district in May, were undisclosed.

Earlier this month, the company was ordered to pay New Mexico $25 billion for deceiving users about its privacy policies on top of nearly $1 billion for earlier penalties over child safety. Meta has said it will appeal the judgments against it.

The cases have brought new attention to the company’s fraught history with child safety and privacy. Each trial has exposed private emails and conversations between Meta’s executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, about harm being caused by its platforms. In the personal injury suit brought and won by K.G.M. this year, Zuckerberg testified about child safety in front of a jury for the first time.

As part of the August settlement with state attorneys general, Meta also agreed to make changes to features on Instagram and Facebook for underage users, including disabling some notifications and giving users the option to turn off algorithmic scroll.Meta previously settled with another plaintiff, a 16-year-old from Illinois known as S.J., in the same case slated for trial next week. Snap is still expected to defend itself against S.J. and K.D.B. in that trial. Evan Spiegel, Snap’s CEO, is also expected to testify for the first time in a social media addiction case.

“We remain committed to improving safety for kids on social media apps and holding tech companies accountable, and we are pleased to have brought this matter to a just resolution on behalf of our client,” Emily Jeffcott, K.D.B.’s lawyer, said in a statement.

Meta said in a statement that dismissals and settlements were common in the bellwether process, and that the company was committed to protecting its young users.

“We will continue to defend ourselves in court, and we stand by our record,” the company said.