Seattle schools sue TikTok and Meta over youth’mental crisis’
Seattle public schools offer a variety of educational programs. sued The tech giants behind TikTok and Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram have accused them of creating a mental health crisis for America’s youth. The 91-page lawsuit A US District Court filed a complaint stating that social media giants have made it easy for users to become addicted, leading to increased anxiety and depression, as well as thoughts of self-harm.
“Defendants’ growth is a product of choices they made to design and operate their platforms in ways that exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users into spending more and more time on their platforms,” the complaint states. “[They] have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms.”
According to the complaint, harmful content was pushed to users including extreme diet plans, encouragement to self-harm, and other such things. This has resulted in a 30% increase in students reporting feeling “so depressed or hopeless…for two weeks or more” between 2009 and 2019. [they] “Stop doing certain usual activities.”
Defendants’ misconduct has been a substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis, which has been marked by higher and higher proportions of youth struggling with anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm, and suicidal ideation. The rate at which youth have suffered from mental health problems has steadily increased since 2010, making suicide the second-leading cause of death among youths.
That in turn leads to a drop in performance in their studies, making them “less likely to attend school, more likely to engage in substance use, and to act out, all of which directly affects Seattle Public Schools’ ability to fulfill its educational mission.”
Online platforms are not responsible for third party content, as per Section 230 of US Communications Decency Act. The lawsuit claims that this provision does not protect social media companies from recommending, distributing, and promoting content that “causes harm.”
A Google spokesperson stated, “We have made significant investments in creating safe experiences across our platforms for children and have introduced strong safety protections and dedicated features that prioritize their wellbeing.” Axios. “For example, Family Link gives parents the ability to set reminders and limit screen time, as well as block certain types of content from supervised devices.”
Antigone Davis, Meta’s global head, safety, said that they have developed over 30 tools for teens and families. We’ll continue to collaborate closely with parents, experts, and policymakers on these critical issues. Engadget reached the company, although TikTok is yet to respond.
Recent accusations by experts and critics of social media companies exploiting teens and children have been made by experts and critics. Frances Haugen, a Meta whistleblower, stated to Congress that she had “…”Facebook’s products harm children.” Bryn Austin, a Bryn Austin expert on eating disorders wrote about it in a 2021 Harvard article Teens can be sent into a “dangerous spiral” by social media content Legislators have taken note of the problem and proposed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) Last year.