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CTOnews.com, January 8, according to Bloomberg on January 8, the Seattle School District has filed a lawsuit against large technology companies, accusing them of causing social media addiction among teenagers, saying that schools are unable to fulfill their educational mission and that students are suffering from anxiety, depression and other psychological problems.

The Seattle School District said Google's parent companies Alphabet, Meta, Snap and Tik Tok were responsible for attracting teenagers and causing mental health crises on its platform, according to a complaint filed in Seattle court on Jan. 6. The area includes more than 100 schools, providing education for about 50000 children.

These social media platforms include TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, and the 91-page indictment alleges that these social media companies targeted their products at children, causing a public nuisance. These social media are blamed for worsening mental health and behavioural disorders among adolescents, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders and cyber bullying, making it more difficult to educate students and forcing schools to take measures, such as hiring more mental health professionals, developing curriculum plans on the impact of social media, and providing additional training for teachers.

"the defendant successfully exploited the fragile brains of teenagers, causing tens of millions of students across the country to fall into a positive feedback loop of overuse and abuse of the defendant's social media platform," the complaint said. "to make matters worse, the content planned and directed to teenagers by the defendant is often harmful and exploitative."

Although Section 230 of the Communications Etiquette Act, a federal law, helps protect Internet companies from liability for content posted by third-party users on their platforms, the lawsuit argues that the provision does not protect the actions of tech giants in this case.

"the plaintiff does not accuse the defendant of being responsible for the comments of a third party on the defendant's platform, but of his own actions," the lawsuit said. the defendant recommended and promoted content harmful to teenagers, such as supporting anorexia and eating disorders. "

CTOnews.com learned that the Seattle School District asked the court to order these companies to stop causing public hazards, compensate for losses, and pay for preventive education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media.

Internal research disclosed by Facebook whistleblower Francis Hogan (Frances Haugen) in 2021 showed that Facebook knew that Instagram had a negative impact on teenagers, that the platform put profits above safety and hid its research from investors and the public.

The lawsuit is reported to be the first of its kind by a school district in the United States, and dozens of families filed a similar lawsuit last year, accusing technology companies of inducing their children to commit suicide.

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