Seattle School District #1 filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking a judge to rule that big tech had caused a disturbance and seeks monetary damages in addition to funding to prevent and treat the overuse of social media. With this, Seattle schools are effectively suing big tech over youth mental health crisis.
The Seattle City School District is suing a number of well-known social media companies because they are to blame for the current mental health problem.
As stated in the lawsuit, which was issued against Alphabet, Meta, Snap, and TikTok owner ByteDance late Friday in federal court in Seattle, students have been experiencing anxiety, depression, and other psychological issues as a result of their usage of social media.
Around 50,000 students are served by the district’s more than 100 schools.
The suit appears to be the first of its kind in the US brought by a school district, following similar claims filed last year by scores of families, including more than a dozen blaming the tech companies for suicides.
–Bloomberg
The idea that social media companies shoulder responsibility for the potential damage their products cause to young people came to the fore late in 2021 when former Meta employee Frances Haugen revealed documents about its internal operations. Among Haugen’s allegations was a claim that the company was knowingly preying on vulnerable young people to boost profits. Congress held hearings and some state attorneys general launched investigations.
Seattle School District #1 filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking a judge to rule that big tech had caused a disturbance and seeks monetary damages in addition to funding to prevent and treat the overuse of social media. In addition to President Joe Biden’s appeal to “hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.” the district also points to an increase in suicides and ER visits for mental health issues.
“Seattle School District No. 1 brings this action to do just that,” reads the complaint. “Youth in plaintiff’s community are experiencing the same mental health crisis observed nationally.”
There has been no news as to whether Seattle schools would also sue the US government and the media for the life-altering lockdowns and 3 years of pandemic frenzy, which impacted the psychological health of young Americans.
In a polarized political environment where working across party lines is rare, legislative measures to break up Big Tech monopolies have received support from both ends of the aisle. This reaction is owed to recently-released classified documents that could help lawmakers break up Big Tech companies.
One Response
Hmmmm, this has the fragrance of another ruse meant to increase CENSORSHIP under the guise of ‘the chiillldren’. Too bad ‘the chiillldren’ are the target and not the true ethical and moral concern of these overly emotional thugs n cultists.