Seattle Public Schools accuses TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook of endangering children’s mental health
The lawsuit alleges the platforms have “exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse”
Seattle’s public school district is suing TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, among other social media platforms, in landmark litigation that alleges that their practices are damaging students’ mental health.
The 90-plus-page lawsuit, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court, claims the companies are intentionally marketing their products to “hook” children, according to multiple news outlets including Reuters and CNN.
“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,” the lawsuit said.
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According to CNN, the school district claims that kids have experienced anxiety, sadness, and other mental health difficulties as a result of their collective reliance on the apps and that they are less likely to engage in school while engaging in other harmful behaviors.
According to Reuters, Seattle Public Schools is suing for unspecified monetary damages.
In response to the complaint, representatives for some of the defendants issued remarks to Reuters. Meta, the company that owns Facebook, told the outlet that it is continuing to “work closely with academics, policymakers, and parents” to build more than 30 solutions to help kids.
According to a Google spokeswoman, the business has implemented “strong safeguards and specific features to emphasize their well-being.”
Meanwhile, some students feel as though administrators are blaming external factors without trying to fix the problems within schools.
“The district, before they carry out a lawsuit, which is very, very expensive, they should have looked inward and addressed the problems that are actually in our schools that they themselves can solve,” high school student Natalya McConnell told KING-TV.
The complaint comes more than a year after congressional hearings on the negative impact of social media on children.