Prince George’s County Public Schools is suing a group of social media giants, saying the sites are negatively impacting students’ mental health.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. his Google, the parent company of YouTube; ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. and Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc.
“What we’re talking about are the four major social media platforms that are actually instilling algorithms, and certainly design features, into teenagers and middle-school-aged kids, and getting kids addicted to them. “They’re bringing content that guides them. They posted it on social media,” Philip Federico, an attorney representing the school district, told News4.
Federico said schools are seeing “image issues, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, etc.” as a result of “social media addiction.”
The school district claims in a news release that the social media site is “deliberately designed to target and addict children.” “The algorithms that power these platforms are designed to manipulate users, especially young people, down the ‘rabbit hole’ and keep them on the app for as long as possible.”
The school district says that the addictive nature of app design contributes significantly to mental health issues among teens, and that companies are “putting profits ahead of the safety and well-being of children through advertising-based business models.” “There is,” he claims. Companies market to children and create problems for schools and parents to solve.
As children and teens spend more time online during the pandemic, the negative effects of screen time on mental health have become a national topic of conversation.
The American Psychological Association has released 10 research-backed social media guidelines for kids. News4’s Erica Gonzalez explains.
A 2019 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at different types of social media and screens and found that the amount of time spent on screens can be harmful, according to Kaiser Permanente. said psychiatrist Dr. Asha Patton Smith.
“But social media seems to be the biggest contributor to increased depression and anxiety,” she says.
In February, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a surprising report analyzing the health behaviors of more than 17,000 U.S. high school students over a 10-year period ending in 2021.Data covers mental health, suicide, sexual violence, trauma and bullying experienced by U.S. high school students.
More than 40% of boys and girls reported feeling “very sad and hopeless” and unable to participate in normal activities for at least two weeks, the report said. The mental health situation of teenage girls is particularly tough, with nearly three in five experiencing persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness in 2021, according to the CDC.
22% of students surveyed said they were “seriously considering” attempting suicide in 2021, a staggering increase from 16% in 2011.
Federico’s law firm also represented schools in a lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs over marketing strategies that allegedly targeted children too young to smoke. The lawsuit was recently settled for $462 million.
The district said in a news release that funds that should have been earmarked for educational resources had to be redirected to provide more mental health resources for the more than 131,000 students in the district.
The lawsuit aims to change the way social media companies market to children and get financial support for increased mental health resources needed in schools.
“The damages we are seeking from the platforms that caused this issue basically fall into two buckets,” Federico said. The first is “economic damages,” which is the amount the school district wants to receive for costs incurred by the school for problems allegedly caused by the company.
Second, the school district is also trying to change the way companies do business, Federico said. Social media is necessary and “we only move forward, not backward, but there are healthy ways to do it.”
“Unfortunately, the unhealthy practices they’re using are better for them, more harmful to the kids, and a much greater burden on the school board,” he said.
Federico said the district is looking forward to new algorithms from companies with less dependent designs.
Here’s how social media companies reacted
Google disputed the school district’s claims.
“Protecting children across our platforms has always been at the core of our work,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “Working with child development experts, we built an age-appropriate experience for kids and families on YouTube and gave parents robust controls. These complaints are completely true. Not.”
In response, a Meta representative responded in a statement: “We want to reassure all parents that we have their interests first in our efforts to provide a safe and supportive experience for teens online. I think.”
“We’ve developed more than 30 tools to support teens and their families, including helping parents control when and for how long their teens use Instagram. These include tools that allow teens to decide who they are, age verification technology, and the ability to automatically set accounts private for those under 16. We have sent you a notice urging you to do so,” Mehta’s statement continued. “We have invested in technology to find and remove content related to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders before anyone reports them. These are complex issues, but we are committed to helping parents, We will continue to collaborate with experts, state attorneys, and other regulators to develop new tools, features, and policies that meet the needs of teens and their families. ”
A Meta spokesperson also shared a list of tools and policies the company has put in place to keep youth safe, including the option to turn on hidden text in comments and DMs and monitoring tools. This helps parents see how much time their teens spend on Instagram and set time limits.
ByteDance and Snap, Inc. have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Law firms operate on a contingency basis, so taxpayers don’t have to pay for litigation. This means that they can operate for free until they win the lawsuit.