Seattle schools sue social media companies for causing "mental health crisis" among children

[midian182]

What just happened? The negative impact social media can have on young people's mental health is well documented. Now, Seattle's school district has filed a lawsuit against the companies behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, accusing them of creating a "mental health crisis among America's youth."

The 91-page complaint filed in US district court on Friday claims the social media companies are responsible for worsening the mental health of the children that they target. The tech giants are also blamed for rising rates of anxiety, depression, disordered eating, cyberbullying, self-harm, and suicide ideation. It's led to schools hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media, and providing additional training to teachers.

The lawsuit alleges that between 2009 and 2019, there was, on average, a 30% increase in the number of students at Seattle public schools who reported feeling "so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that [they] stopped doing some usual activities."

"Defendants' growth is a product of choices they made to design and operate their platforms in ways that exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users into spending more and more time on their platforms," the suit states. "[They] 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."

Social media companies are protected from liability when it comes to what third parties post on their platforms, thanks to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. However, the suit says the rule does not protect the companies in this case because they are liable for recommending, distributing, and promoting content and marketing their platforms "in a way that causes harm."

"Plaintiff is not alleging Defendants are liable for what third-parties have said on Defendants' platforms but, rather, for Defendants' own conduct," the lawsuit states. "Defendants affirmatively recommend and promote harmful content to youth, such as pro-anorexia and eating disorder content."

Responding to the suit, Google told Axios it has "invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across our platforms and have introduced strong protections and dedicated features to prioritize their well-being." The company cited its Family Link service, a two-party system where an app installed on a parent's device is used to configure settings and permissions on a child's device.

Snapchat, meanwhile, told Reuters that it is working "closely with many mental health organizations to provide in-app tools and resources for users and that the well-being of its community is its top priority."

The school district is asking the court to order the companies to stop creating a public nuisance. It is also asking for damages, and to pay for the prevention of and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media.

Facebook was rocked by another scandal in 2021 when whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed documents showing the company had spent years examining the effects Instagram has on younger users' mental health and was aware of the damage it could cause. She also said Facebook was putting its own profits ahead of the safety of users.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/97203-seattle-schools-sue-social-media-companies-causing-mental.html

 

[punctualturn]

Ban TikTok: Yeah!
Ban Facebook, IG: Whats wrong with you, do you hate America?

/s

This is actually an interesting subject and at the same time, I wonder if a better way to attack this would be classes training kids in how fake and empty those posts are.

Hopefully that way, they can start developing a nice critical and logical way of thinking, instead of worshiping influencers, brands and corporations.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Good. Social media is a plague.

If only we had an educational institution that could teach children how fake social media is, and how not to get sucked into the hype. Oh wait........

Sidenote; how long until the social media platforms sue the school for the insane BS that gets taught to students for causing "a mental health crisis"? This is one hell of a rabbit hole.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

I bet a judge will reject this lawsuit. I don't believe the Seattle Public Schools district can sue on behalf of the children attending there, the parents would have to. And this isn't a class-action lawsuit.

Here's the link to the PR released by Seattle Public Schools regarding this btw: https://www.seattleschools.org/news/social-media-case/

 

[wiyosaya]

This is actually an interesting subject and at the same time, I wonder if a better way to attack this would be classes training kids in how fake and empty those posts are.

Hopefully that way, they can start developing a nice critical and logical way of thinking, instead of worshiping influencers, brands and corporations.

As I see it, that might only entice kids to browse these sites. IMO, the only way for the kids to learn that these sites are crap is for them to experience it on their own. They might and they might not come to that conclusion no matter how they find out. That old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink" comes to mind.

I bet a judge will reject this lawsuit. I don't believe the Seattle Public Schools district can sue on behalf of the children attending there, the parents would have to. And this isn't a class-action lawsuit.

Here's the link to the PR released by Seattle Public Schools regarding this btw: https://www.seattleschools.org/news/social-media-case/

I think you are spot-on in that parents are the ones that need to reign in their kids. Unfortunately, I think it is likely that many parents that let their kids use social media are also social media users themselves, and those parents probably think social media is the best thing to ever become available on the internet.

Unfortunately, as I said above, I think that kids are going to have to figure out for themselves what a worthless steaming pile of crap social media is. And that may or may not happen.

 

[wiyosaya]

Sidenote; how long until the social media platforms sue the school for the insane BS that gets taught to students for causing "a mental health crisis"? This is one hell of a rabbit hole.

I don't think that's likely, but one can hope.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Or perhaps parents should take responsibility for their kids and teach them about these things?

What am I saying? Parents taking the blame for these things and not expecting some kind of court settlement? I forgot that this is the United States! Get your money anyway you can as long as it's someone else's money.

 

[RudyBob]

As these kind of folk do they accuse others of what they do. I'm not writing that unsocial media cannot be harmful. It is. How often have teachers (ha ha) told their students to use social media to explore their...whatever?

 

[Kam7r]

I sincerly hope those schools win... but WTF are the parents of those kids doing ?

 

[Gixser]

What makes you think the Seattle Schools are suing on behalf of the children? I would actually like to read the complaint but it seems (from your link) the schools are attempting to recover costs associated with handling/treating the increase in mental health issues.

I bet a judge will reject this lawsuit. I don't believe the Seattle Public Schools district can sue on behalf of the children attending there, the parents would have to. And this isn't a class-action lawsuit.

/[/URL]

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

What makes you think the Seattle Schools are suing on behalf of the children? I would actually like to read the complaint but it seems (from your link) the schools are attempting to recover costs associated with handling/treating the increase in mental health issues.

That would be the only reasonable explanation. I can't expect it would be a big lawsuit in that case then, damages would have to be less than $10M. Still though, trying to link mental health issues to being caused specifically by social media, and also linking the reason they're being caused to the creators of social media will be really hard to prosecute. Realistically the best way to accomplish what the school district wants is via legislation, not court decision.

I look forward to seeing what "stop creating a public nuisance" is explicitly defined as though lol:

The school district is asking the court to order the companies to stop creating a public nuisance. It is also asking for damages, and to pay for the prevention of and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media.

EDITS:

Here's the lawsuit btw: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.317950/gov.uscourts.wawd.317950.1.0.pdf

From that, here are this list of outcomes that the lawsuit is seeking to achieve:

VII. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays for judgment as follows:
356. Entering an Order that the conduct alleged herein constitutes a public nuisance under Washington law;
357. Entering an Order that Defendants are jointly and severally liable;
358. Entering an Order requiring Defendants to abate the public nuisance described herein and to deter and/or prevent the resumption of such nuisance;
359. Enjoining Defendants from engaging in further actions causing or contributing to the public nuisance as described herein;
360. Awarding equitable relief to fund prevention education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media;
361. Awarding actual and compensatory damages;
362. Awarding statutory damages in the maximum amount permitted by law;
363. Awarding reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of suit;
364. Awarding pre-judgment and post-judgment interest; and
365. Such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper under the circumstances.

Here's why the lawsuit is calling social media a public nuisance:

334. Pursuant to RCW 7.48.010, an actionable nuisance is defined as, inter alia, “whatever is injurious to health or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of the life and property.” Id.
335. Specifically, a “[n]uisance consists in unlawfully doing an act, or omitting to perform a duty, which act or omission either annoys, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others, offends decency . . . or in any way renders other persons insecure in life, or in the use of property.” RCW 7.48.120.
336. Under Washington law, conduct that substantially and/or unreasonably interferes with the Plaintiff’s use of its property is a nuisance even if it would otherwise be lawful.
337. Pursuant to RCW 7.48.130, “[a] public nuisance is one which affects equally the rights of an entire community or neighborhood, although the extent of the damage may be unequal.” Id

 

[waclark]

This is a waste of public money. The Seattle Public School district management should be fired over this. This is frivolous litigation and will cost tax payers tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, for what?

Teachers, get back in the classroom and start teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic and leave the politics and BS to the politicians.

 

[MyIOnU]

Sue the social network for fail parenting?

 

[Feng Lengshun]

How about teachers and parents actually learn how social media works, implement strict rules where it matters and allow enough freedom so that kids don't just wholly ignore those rules, and you know, actually teach children so that they'll be ready for the society that they will have to live in for the rest of their lives?