School boards in Canada sue social media companies over negative effects on students

Four significant Canadian school boards have sued some of the biggest social media corporations in the world, claiming that the platforms have interfered with kids' education and are extremely addictive to young users. 

The social media sites have been "negligently designed for compulsive use, [and] have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn," according to the school boards, which are suing for damages totalingroughly $2.9 billion (four billion Canadian dollars). 

The boards stated in a statement on Thursday that students are going through "an attention, learning, and mental health crisis because of prolific and compulsive use of social media products." 

The defendants in each case are identified as Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Snap Inc., the firm that powers Snapchat, and the parent company of TikTok. The legal claims were filed independently. 

“The influence of social media on today’s youth at school cannot be denied,” said Colleen Russell-Rawlins, director of education at the Toronto District School Board, the largest school board in Canada and one of the four involved in the legal claims. 

It causes widespread issues like social disengagement, distraction, cyberbullying, an abrupt increase in hostility, and mental health issues. Thus, it is essential that we take action to guarantee our children's wellbeing," she stated in the statement.  

The Peel District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are the other three school boards that are parties to the litigation. 

Numerous studies have demonstrated the addictive nature of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, as well as the potential for anxiety and despair with continued use. 

According to a surgeon general statement from the previous year, up to 95% of children between the ages of 13 and 17 reported using social media, with a third saying they used it "almost constantly."  

“We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis – one that we must urgently address,” Murthy said. 

Thirty-three US states also sued Meta last year, alleging that its products cause mental health issues among young children and teenagers.