Pinellas County Schools joins national lawsuit against social media companies

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Pinellas County Schools became the latest district to join several across the country in suing social media companies. The lawsuits say companies like Meta and TikTok are contributing to a mental health crisis among students, and that it’s affecting them in the classroom.

The same attorneys who represented the district in the recent vaping lawsuit will represent Pinellas Schools in the social media lawsuit after the board members unanimously approved the contract Tuesday night. The district received a little more than $4 million from the vaping lawsuit.

School board members also finalized that settlement with Altria Group, Inc. and the remaining defendants in the vaping litigation at Tuesday night’s meeting. 

The attorneys that who would represent Pinellas County Schools in the social media litigation are the Maher Law Firm out of Orlando and Wagstaff & Cartmell based out of Kansas City. They represent at least 20 other Florida public school boards in similar lawsuits, according to David Koperski, Pinellas County School Board’s attorney.

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"In recent years, it has become apparent that social media platforms have had, in part through the use of targeted algorithmic programming, a detrimental effect on youth mental health," Koperski said in documents submitted the school board included in the meeting’s agenda.

File: Teen hands grip cell phone. 

He added that social media companies have contributed to an increase in youth mental health issues that the board has addressed through staffing and other interventions. Koperski says joining this multi-district litigation would allow the district to "recoup taxpayer resources spent to address these issues" if it’s successful.

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School board members unanimously voted to give Koperski the OK to work on a contract with the attorneys in June. The attorneys told board members at that meeting that social media companies use algorithms that maximize user engagement. They also said that in addition to the mental health toll social media takes on students, it’s affecting students in the classroom too and is a distraction.

File: Cellphone with Instagram app open. 

"We're not trying to punish anybody for speaking, for exercising their free speech rights on social media," attorney Jonathan P. Kieffer said. "We're not trying to punish a social media platform for allowing some other person to exercise their free speech rights on the platform. We are saying that these platforms are products. They're products just like any other product, and there has to be some level of guardrails, some level of protection for underage and vulnerable kids," Kieffer said.

Kieffer and Steven Maher of the Maher Law Firm also said the effects of social media are creating the need for more mental health resources in schools across the country, and fueling dares online that can cause damage to school property.

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"We think the problem with social media has really reached epidemic proportions as it relates to adverse effects on young people," Kieffer said.

Board Chairperson Lisa Cane brought her four kids to the meeting in June as well. 

"I thought it's important for them to hear from professionals how this is impacting students on a nationwide basis because they see it every day with their peers," Cane said.

File: TikTok

"I'm very optimistic about it [the potential lawsuit]. I really liked the point that the attorney made that this is a product and there should be safety is available for families and parents for children using that product," Cane said. "I think that made a lot of sense. That's a very logical point of view, and I'm hoping that at the end of the day, it will push companies to look for solutions like that to this problem," she said.

The U.S. Surgeon General said in the spring that social media is contributing to the country’s youth mental health crisis. 

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If the school board approves the contract Tuesday night, Pinellas County will be a part of a multi-district litigation against the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. The board will only pay the attorneys if they win, and the money used to foot the bill would be from that potential settlement. No public funds would be spent on the litigation.

Several of the social media companies said in statements that protecting kids on their platforms is one of their main focuses and that the districts are wrongly pointing the finger at social media.