To hold social media giants accountable for the harm they have caused its students’ mental, emotional, and social health, Seattle Public Schools, the largest school district in the state of Washington, filed a lawsuit Friday against them.
A statement released by Seattle Public Schools superintendent Brent Jones said, “As a result of increased screen time, unfiltered content, and potentially addictive properties of social media, our students and young people everywhere face unprecedented learning and life challenges. There is an increasing amount of mental health challenges among children. We believe this lawsuit is the first step toward reversing this trend for our students, the entire state of Washington, and the entire nation.”
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The lawsuit accuses Meta, owner of Instagram, Facebook, Snap Inc., Snap, TikTok, ByteDance, and Alphabet, owner of YouTube, of designing and operating their platforms “in ways that exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users to spend more time there.”
Teens should be safe online. Statement from Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Meta, said we’d developed more than 30 tools for teens and families, including supervision tools to limit teens’ Instagram usage and age verification technology that ensures teens have age-appropriate experiences.
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Additionally, YouTube’s parent company Google emphasized its efforts to protect minors.
As a social media platform intended to connect people with friends without the pressure of social comparisons and public pressure, Snapchat intentionally makes strangers have a hard time connecting with young people.”
Keeping our community safe also includes providing in-app tools and resources for Snapchatters from mental health organizations. Our platform will continue to be safe, and Snapchatters will have resources to help them deal with mental health challenges.” As for the ongoing litigation, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance declined to comment but emphasized their commitment to safety and well-being.