WELLINGTON COUNTY – Is social media causing a youth crisis in mental health, learning and attention?
It’s one of the claims made in a string of lawsuits filed by four of Ontario’s largest school boards on March 27.
The Toronto, Toronto Catholic, Ottawa-Carleton, and Peel District School Boards accuse the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok of negligently designing products for compulsive use.
And they are suing Meta, Snap, and ByteDance for more than $4 billion in damages for disruption to student learning.
According to a press release from the four boards, the social media platforms “have rewired the way children think, behave and learn, leaving educators and schools to manage the fallout.”
School boards face increased needs for in-school mental health supports, increased IT costs, and additional administrative resources, “causing massive strains on the four school boards’ finite resources,” the release continues.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
In addition to the collective $4 billion to compensate for the cost of the alleged fallout, the boards are calling for the social media companies to “redesign their products to keep students safe.”
The boards filed separate but similar lawsuits, and each is represented by Toronto-based firm Neinstein LLP.
“School boards will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached,” the release notes.
CBC reports a TikTok spokesperson told them the platform has “industry leading safeguards,” including parental controls and limiting users under 18 years of age to 60 minutes of daily use.
A Snapchat spokesperson told CBC the platform is different from traditional social media as it does not open directly to a feed and does not include public likes and comments.
“While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence,” the spokesperson stated.
Since the four school boards announced the lawsuits, Simcoe County District School Board has confirmed it will file a similar statement of claim against the social media giants.
Other school boards, including the Lakehead District School Board and the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, stated they are not joining the litigation currently, but have not ruled out doing so in the future.
Locally, officials with both the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) and the Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) have declined interviews on the topic.
Spokesperson Heather Loney said the UGDSB has decided not to participate in the litigation “at this time,” and would not speak to the impact of social media use on UGDSB students.
WCDSB spokesperson Ali Lupal said the Catholic board is not “providing comment to any news sources on the lawsuit or issues surrounding it,” and would not confirm or deny whether the board may join the litigation down the road.
For more information about the lawsuits, visit schoolboardsforchange.ca.
