SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Public School District has filed a new lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among young people.
Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint alleges that the social media companies created a public nuisance by targeting their products at children.
He blames them for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders, including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; hinders students’ education; and forcing schools to take action, such as hiring more mental health professionals, developing training plans on the effects of social media, and providing additional teacher training.
“The defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable minds of young people, drawing tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of overuse and abuse of the defendants’ social media platforms,” the complaint states. “Worse, the content that the accused deal with and address to young people 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 businesses from liability arising from what third-party users post on their platforms, the lawsuit claims the provision does not protect the tech giants’ behavior in this case.
While hundreds of families are suing the companies for damages they say their children have suffered from social media, it’s unclear if other school districts have filed a lawsuit like the one in Seattle.
Internal studies revealed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2021 revealed that the company knew Instagram was having a negative impact on teenagers, damaging their body image and exacerbating eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. He said the platform prioritized profits over safety and hid its research from investors and the public.
“Plaintiff does not allege that Defendants are responsible for what third parties said on Defendants’ platforms, but rather for Defendants’ conduct,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants affirmatively recommend and promote content that is harmful to young people, such as pro-anorexia and eating disorder content.”
The lawsuit alleges that from 2009 to 2019, there was, on average, a 30 percent increase in the number of Seattle Public Schools students who felt “so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more” that stopped doing anything. typical activities.
The school district is asking the court to order the companies to stop creating a public nuisance, award damages and pay for education and preventive treatment for excessive and problematic social media use.
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