Ontario school boards have filed a lawsuit against social media giants seeking damages for disrupting student learning and the education system.
The lawsuit, filed by the public and Catholic councils of Toronto as well as the public councils of Peel and Ottawa-Carleton, targets Meta (Facebook and Instagram, Snap (Snapchat), ByteDance (TikTok).
In the lawsuit, the school boards accused these social media of “negligently” designing products for “compulsive use” that changed children’s behavior.
“The influence of social media on today’s youth in school cannot be denied. It leads to pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, rapid escalation of aggression and mental health problems,” said Colleen Russell-Rawlins, director of education at the Toronto District School Board.
Ontario school boards are therefore demanding compensation of more than $4 billion in order to “remediate these enormous costs for the education system” and to review the design of products for student safety.
“It is therefore imperative that we take measures to ensure the well-being of our young people,” said Ms. Russell-Rawlins.
The law firm Neinstein LLP, which will represent the four school boards, assured that the boards will not be responsible for the costs related to the legal action, “unless a favorable outcome is found.”