Canadian schools sue social networks

Four of Canada's largest school boards have filed lawsuits against social media companies, saying social media is causing student distraction and mental health problems. The trend of suing social networks is expanding in the US and Canada.

Canada's four largest school boards, Ottawa-Carleton, Toronto, Reel and Toronto Catholic, have filed lawsuits against social media companies in the superior court of Ontario, Canada. Companies include Meta (including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Threads), Snap Inc, ByteDance (parent company of TikTok application).

Accordingly, the councils agreed that the products of social media companies negatively affect the learning process of students and change the way children think. The above action is considered 'extreme, reckless, harmful and reprehensible'.

The complaint said: 'Social media products, carelessly designed for use, have transformed the way children think, behave and learn. Media companies only consider business practices and profit maximization instead of caring for the mental health and well-being of students. Educators and schools are having to deal with the consequences.'

The lawsuit group said that in recent years, educators have had to spend a lot of time in class to help students focus, affecting the time spent teaching knowledge. They blame the addictive nature of apps and social networks like Instagram, TikTok and SnapChat. This also causes an increase in mental health problems and cyberbullying.

Ms. Rachel Chernos, representative of the Toronto Board of Education, said not only teachers but parents are noticing signs of social withdrawal, anxiety, difficulty concentrating and many other mental health issues in students. A portion of students engage in cyberbullying behavior and others are victims.

'Media companies have deliberately created addictive products to market to young people. This causes serious harm and we cannot stand by and not speak out against it,' Ms. Chernos emphasized.

To cover the costs associated with the fallout, councils demanded $4.5 billion in compensation from the companies. This is the first lawsuit against media companies in the education sector in Canada.

Previously, in the US, there was a wave of lawsuits against social networks by schools because they believed that applications such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook contributed to the mental health crisis for young people. Many large school districts in California, Pennsylvania, and Florida have filed lawsuits.

Many experts expressed no surprise at such large-scale and influential lawsuits. Because the purpose of the board of education's actions is to be good for the physical and mental health of students.

A representative of SnapChat Company said that this platform is designed differently from traditional social media. It is the platform for people to communicate. Young people will feel connected, happy and have a companion to overcome the difficult stages of puberty when chatting with friends via SnapChat.

The companies Meta and ByteDance have not commented on the lawsuit.

Psychology expert Richard Weissbourd, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, at Harvard University, said that the cause of the lawsuits may be reasonable. However, teachers and parents need to pay more attention to teenagers, educating them about the benefits and downsides of platforms.

Lesley Montoya

Update 03 April 2024