Lawsuits Filed Against Social Media Giants Over Student Disturbance
The Toronto and Ottawa school boards demand at least Can$4 billion in damages and urge the corporations to make their apps less addictive. They claim that these platforms negligently designed and marketed addictive products, leading to attention, learning, and mental health crises among students, along with increased cyberbullying and aggressive behavior.
Four of Canada’s top school boards have filed lawsuits accusing social media services such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok of disturbing student study, they announced on Thursday.
Local education officials in the United States have also filed similar cases in recent months, including a Maryland school district that sued Facebook and Instagram parent firm Meta, as well as TikTok parent company ByteDance, for their role in a “mental health crisis” among young people. This is the first such outfit in Canada.
The three Toronto boards and one in Ottawa filed separate statements of claim with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, demanding at least Can$4 billion (US$3 billion) from the businesses that created the popular applications Meta, Snap, and ByteDance.
They also asked the corporations to make their apps less addicting.
According to the Toronto District School Board, the corporations “negligently designed and marketed addictive products” that are “rewiring the way that (students) think, act, behave and learn.”
It identified substantial issues with pupil attention and focus. Educators also expressed concern that students’ usage of social media has resulted in social retreat, increased cyberbullying, and aggressive behavior.
“Students are experiencing an attention, learning, and mental health crisis as a result of their frequent and compulsive use of social media products,” the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board stated in a statement.
It “is causing massive strains on the four school boards’ finite resources, including additional needs for in-school mental health programming and personnel, increased IT costs and additional administrative resources,” according to the report.
The complaints in Canada come a day after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved legislation barring social media access for youngsters under 16, citing growing worries about the platforms’ impact on teen mental health.
However, the bill has raised concerns that it sets a dangerous precedent for suppressing free speech online.
