This browser does not support the Video element.
School boards to consider suing social media companies
Kellie Cowan reports
BRADENTON, Fla. - School districts across Florida are joining a growing movement to sue social media giants in hopes of convincing the companies to change their platforms to better protect children.
The lawsuits, which began in Seattle and have since spread across the country, claim social media companies Meta, TikTok, SnapChat, and YouTube have contributed to a growing mental health crisis that’s costing school districts and hurting children.
A Youth Mental Health Crisis
This spring, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a warning that social media is contributing to the country’s youth mental health crisis.
A Health and Human Services report cited research studies that found adolescents who spent more than three hours a day on social media had double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and negative body image.
In a poll of teens ages 13-17, nearly half reported feeling worse about their body image because of social media.
Not A Fair Fight
While children and teens can be exposed to bullying, harassment, and harmful content on social media platforms, health experts point out teens and children lack the impulse control and reasoning needed to cut themselves off, even when they realize the platforms ultimately make them feel worse.
"If we tell a child, use the force of your willpower to control how much time you’re spending, you’re pitting a child against the world’s greatest product designers, and that’s just not a fair fight," Murthy said on CNN’s "Newsroom" in January.
READ: Surgeon general warns social media can have 'profound risk of harm' for kids
Developing minds are especially susceptible to social comparison, suggestion, feelings of insecurity, and fears of being left out. Those qualities make them extremely valuable to advertisers, and extremely vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation.
"I think there's a lot of money that's being made and there’s a lot of harm that goes to our students. It’s very expensive to you as a school district in dealing with this every day," Franklin Harrison, one of several attorneys involved in the case, recently told Orange County school board members. "Hopefully we can get accountability and some controls in place."
The Cost of Social Media
School districts say social media platforms are fueling self-harm, fights, anti-social behavior, depression, and suicide.
From viral TikTok trends that encourage the destruction of school property, to posts and accounts that glamorize eating disorders, threats made on social media accounts, and online bullying that spills into the classroom, schools say they’re being forced to pick up the tab of mounting costs. They’re having to add additional staff to address growing mental health needs and disciplinary problems. Existing staff must undergo social media training.
Similar to the class action lawsuit filed against e-cigarette maker JUUL, districts hope to recover a settlement that will offset costs fueled by social media.
As part of a settlement, they hope to convince social media companies to change the way they market to kids and to remove functions that fuel social comparison, spread harmful information, and entice users to login and spend hours scrolling their apps.
Florida Schools Enter the Fray
Several Florida school districts, including Citrus, Orange, and Bay counties, have already signed on to the civil lawsuit. The Pinellas and Manatee County school boards will discuss doing so on Tuesday.