Seattle's public school district filed a lawsuit against Big Tech claiming that the companies were responsible for a worsening mental health crisis among students and directly affected the schools' ability to carry out their educational mission.
The complaint, filed on Friday against Alphabet Inc, Meta
Platforms Inc, Snap Inc and TikTok-owner ByteDance with the U.S. District
Court, claimed they purposefully designed their products to hook young people
to their platforms and were creating a mental health crisis.
In emailed statements to Reuters, Google said it has
invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across its platforms
and has introduced "strong protections and dedicated features to
prioritize their well being," while 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.
Meta Platforms and TikTok did not immediately respond to
Reuters' request for comment. In the past, the companies have said they aim to
create an enjoyable experience for users and exclude harmful content and invest
in moderation and content controls.
The lawsuit says the companies' actions have been a
substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis.
"Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable
brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into
positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants' social media
platforms," the lawsuit said.
Students with mental health issues perform worse, causing
schools to take steps including training teachers to identify and address such
symptoms, hire trained personnel, and create additional resources to warn
students about the dangers of social media, the complaint said.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for monetary damages and
other penalties.
In 2021, U.S. lawmakers accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
of pushing for higher profits at the expense of children's mental health
following testimony by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Facebook has consistently
said it disagrees with Haugen's characterization that the company failed to
protect teen 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
consistently tell us they don't want their ads next to harmful or angry
content. And I don't know any tech company that sets out to build products that
make people angry or depressed."