Four of the biggest schools in Canada have filed lawsuits, alleging that social media sites, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are interfering with students’ education.
Similar cases have also been brought by local education authorities in the US in recent months. One such district is in Maryland, where the Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok parent companies Meta are being sued for their alleged involvement in a “mental health crisis” among youth. This is Canada’s first case of its kind.
The three Toronto boards and one in Ottawa filed separate statements of claim with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeking at least Can$4 billion (US$3 billion) from the companies behind the popular apps — Meta, Snap and ByteDance.
They also urged the companies to redesign their apps to be less addictive.
The Toronto District School Board accused the companies of having “negligently designed and marketed addictive products” that are “rewiring the way that (students) think, act, behave and learn.”
It cited significant problems with student attention and focus. Educators also lamented that social media use has led to students’ social withdrawal and increased cyberbullying and aggressive behaviors.
“Students are experiencing an attention, learning and mental health crisis because of prolific and compulsive use of social media products,” the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said in a statement.
This “is causing massive strains on the four school boards’ finite resources, including additional needs for in-school mental health programming and personnel, increased IT costs and additional administrative resources,” it said.
signed legislation on Monday that limited adolescents under 16’s access to social media, citing growing worries about the platforms’ impact on adolescent mental health.
However, there is also concern that the bill creates a risky precedent for limiting free speech online.