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Friday, March 29, 2024

School files lawsuit against social media giants for mental health crisis among youth

A public school in the district of Seattle has filed a new lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat to hold them accountable for a mental health crisis among youth.

Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint alleges that the social media companies caused public outrage by targeting their products at children.

He blames them for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders and cyberbullying; hindering student education; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring more mental health professionals, creating lesson plans about the effects of social media, and providing additional training to teachers.

“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable minds of youth and drawn tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” ​​the complaint states. “Worse, the content the defendants edit and target youth is too often harmful and exploitative…”

Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

While the federal law — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — helps protect online companies from liability arising from what third-party users post on their platforms, the lawsuit claims the provision does not protect the behavior of the tech giants in this case.

“Plaintiffs do not allege that Defendants are responsible for what third parties said on Defendants’ platforms, but rather for Defendants’ own conduct,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants recommend and promote content harmful to youth, such as anorexia and eating disorder content.”

The lawsuit states that from 2009 to 2019, there was an average 30% increase in the number of Seattle Public School students who reported feeling “so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more” that they quit typical activities.

The school district is asking the court to order the companies to stop operating publicly, award damages and pay for preventive education and treatment for excessive and problematic social media use.

While hundreds of families are suing the companies over the harm their children allegedly suffered on social media, it’s unclear if any other school districts have filed a complaint like Seattle’s.

Internal studies revealed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2021 showed that the company knew Instagram was negatively affecting teenagers by damaging their body image and exacerbating eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. She claimed the platform prioritized profits over security and hid its own research from investors and the public.

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