Seattle schools blame tech giants in social media damage lawsuit

(Reuters) –Seattle’s public schools district filed a lawsuit to Big Tech claiming that Big Tech was responsible for a growing mental health crisis among students, and directly affected their ability as educational institutions.

Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and TikTok owner ByteDance were all named in the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court. They claimed that their products were designed to attract young people to their platforms, and they created a mental crisis.

Google stated in emailed statements that it had made significant investments in creating safe environments for children on its platforms. Snap also said that it collaborates closely with mental health organizations to offer in-app resources and tools for users.

Reuters requested comment from TikTok or Meta Platforms but neither company responded immediately. The companies stated in the past that they want to provide an enjoyable user experience and exempt harmful content. They also invest heavily in content control and moderation.

According to the lawsuit, the actions of the companies were a significant factor in creating a crisis in youth mental health.

“Defendants have successfully exploitation the vulnerable brains youth, hooking many millions of students across this country into positive feedback loops that excessive use or abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” said the lawsuit.

The complaint stated that students suffering from mental health issues are more likely to be in trouble. Schools were forced to take action, including teaching teachers how to recognize and treat these symptoms, hiring trained staff, and creating additional resources to warn students about social media’s dangers.

This lawsuit seeks to recover monetary damages as well as other penalties.

Following Frances Haugen’s testimony, U.S. lawmakers in 2021 accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for pushing for higher profits at cost of mental health of children. Facebook has repeatedly stated it disagrees that Haugen claimed that the company did not protect teenage girls using Instagram.

In response, he wrote on his Facebook page: “The argument we deliberately push content which makes people mad for profit is deeply absurd.” “We make money with ads. Advertisers repeatedly tell us that their ads should not be placed next to any harmful or angry content. I do not know of any tech company that aims to make people mad or depressed.

(Reporting from Jyoti in Bengaluru by Rhea binoy in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Rhea in Bengaluru by Rhea Binoy; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Daniel Wallis).