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In an effort to hold social media companies responsible for the worsening mental health issues of students, the public school system of Seattle has launched a lawsuit against TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat.
On Friday, Seattle Public Schools submitted a 91-page complaint to the US District Court.
The schools accuse the tech giants of making it harder to educate students, escalating mental health and behavioural disorders like anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying.
They likewise allege that the tech giants pressure schools to take actions like hiring more mental health professionals, creating lesson plans about social media’s effects and giving teachers more training.
The complaint said, “Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms.
“Worse, the content Defendants curate and direct to yo uth is too often harmful and exploitive ”
The lawsuit claims that although federal law shields online companies from liabilities resulting from content that third parties post on their platforms, it does not shield the tech giants’ actions in this case.
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It said, “Plaintiff is not alleging Defendants are liable for what third-parties have said on Defendants’ platforms but, rather, for Defendants’ own conduct.
“Defendants affirmatively recommend and promote harmful content to youth, such as pro-anorexia and eating disorder content.”
According to the lawsuit, the proportion of Seattle Public Schools students who reported feeling ” so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row” that they stopped doing several common activities increased by an average of 30 per cent from 2009 to 2019.
The school district asks the court to order the companies to stop causing a public nuisance, grant damages and make restitution for the cost of treatment and preventative programmes for people who use social media in unhealthily and excessively.
Internal research made public in 2021 by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen indicated that the business was aware of Instagram’s harmful effects on teenagers, including how it harmed their body image and exacerbated eating disorders and suicidal thoughts.
She said that the platform put profits ahead of user safety and withheld its own research from the general public and investors.
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
