Seattle Public Schools is suing social media companies such as TikTok and Meta, saying the tech giant’s “cheating has played a major role in fueling the youth mental health crisis.”
News promotion: “This mental health crisis is no accident. This is a result of defendants’ deliberate choice and aggressive actions to design and market social media platforms to attract young people,” the lawsuit states.
- “Defendant tapped into the fragile brains of young people and hooked tens of millions of students across the country into a positive feedback loop of the defendant’s excessive use and abuse of social media platforms,” the filed Friday. The complaint states:
- The lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated Washington State’s public nuisance law.
- Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to Axios’ requests for comment.
Big picture: Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified last year that he was aware that some of the company’s platforms were harmful to certain groups, including teens, but he targeted them anyway. There is
- From 2009 to 2019, an average of 30 students in Seattle public schools reported feeling “very sad or hopeless for more than two consecutive weeks, almost every day,” according to the lawsuit. % increased. [they] I stopped doing my normal activities. ”
Deeper… 4 takeaways from Facebook’s whistleblower hearing
