Seattle Public School District Filed Lawsuit Against Big Tech claiming that the companies were responsible for the deterioration of the mental health crisis among students and directly affect the ability of schools to carry out their educational mission.
The lawsuit, filed Friday against Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Snap Inc and ByteDance, which owns TikTok, in the United States District Court, maintains that they purposely designed their products to hook young people to their platforms and that they were creating a mental health crisis.
In statements emailed to Reuters, google said which has invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across its platforms and has introduced “Strong protections and dedicated features to put your well-being first.”
Snap said it works 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.
Accusation
Meta Platforms and TikTok did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. In the past, the companies have said that their goal is to create a pleasant experience for users and exclude harmful content and invest in moderation and content controls.
The lawsuit says that corporate actions have been a substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis.
“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of young people, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of overuse and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the lawsuit states.
Students with mental health problems perform worse, forcing schools to take steps such as training teachers to identify and treat these symptoms, hiring trained staff, and having additional resources to warn students about the dangers of networks. social, according to the text.
claim
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and other penalties.
In 2021, US lawmakers accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of seeking further profit at the expense of children’s mental health, following testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Facebook has consistently said it disagrees with Haugen’s characterization that the company failed to protect teenage girls on Instagram.
“The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical,” he posted on his Facebook page in response.
“We make money from ads, and advertisers constantly tell us they don’t want their ads alongside harmful or irritating content. And I don’t know of any tech company that sets out to create products that make people angry or depressed” the company remarked.
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US public schools sue big tech