Four Ontario school boards sue Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok owners over platforms’ alleged harm to students
Toronto and Ottawa area school boards accuse the companies behind Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and TikTok of using ‘exploitative business practices’ to maximize profits at the expense of students’ mental health and well-being
www.theglobeandmail.com
Four of Canada’s largest school boards are suing the companies behind social-media platforms Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and TikTok, accusing them of negligently designing products that disrupt learning and rewire student behaviour while leaving educators to manage the fallout.
In four separate statements of claim filed on Wednesday in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Peel District School Board accused social-media companies of employing “exploitative business practices” and choosing to “maximize profits” at the expense of the mental health and well-being of students.
The addictive nature of social media means that educators spend more classroom time trying to have students focus on their lessons, the boards say in the statements of claim. They say the compulsive use of social-media platforms has also strained limited school board resources: Schools require additional mental health programs and personnel; staff spend more time addressing aggressive behaviour and incidents of cyberbullying; and information-technology services and cybersecurity costs have increased.
I'm calling it now, social media is the tobacco of the 2000s. The world seriously needs to wake up on this issue.