Burgettstown among school districts filing suit against social media companies
Burgettstown Area School District has joined a growing number of school districts nationwide suing the country’s largest social media companies, claiming those companies are fueling the youth mental health crisis in America.
Defendants include the tech companies that run Facebook, Google, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
In the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, the school district argues those companies have contributed to a youth mental health that predates COVID-19 by targeting minors and designing apps that entice kids to compulsively use their services to maximize profits while causing harm to their mental health.
The major social media platforms “have spent millions to develop and market their products to minors, keeping them coming back for more, and significantly contributing to this mental health crisis,” the lawsuit alleges.
The litigation points to research that has found a host of poor mental, emotional, behavioral, and developmental disorders associated with heavy social media use, including depression, low self-esteem, cyberbullying, eating disorders, sleep deprivation, and more.
The lawsuit is similar to several others that school districts have field in recent months claiming the social media companies’ content algorithms and platform designs are addicting to children and teens, and have caused worsening anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Pittsburgh Public Schools did so on April 6.
Burgettstown’s suit says, in part, schools are struggling to provide adequate mental health services because of the increase in students seeking these services.
The increase in social media use has forced schools to increase mental health resources to students as a result of being addicted to social media.
“Schools are struggling not only to provide students with mental health services but also to deliver an adequate education because of the youth mental health crisis,” the lawsuit claims.
Neither the school district nor law firm representing the district returned phone calls Friday seeking comment.