Posted on 10/22/2023 1:13:18 PM PDT by lightman
Social media companies have allegedly contributed to a mental health crisis among Carroll County students and caused eating disorders, cyberbullying, depression and anxiety among other issues.
The Carroll County Board of Education unanimously voted April 12 to join other Maryland school districts in a lawsuit against social media companies that claims the companies knowingly caused harm to students.
Frederick County Public Schools on Tuesday announced it has joined Carroll County and other school districts across the state and U.S. by filing suit against Meta, Snap, ByteDance and Google — the parent companies of Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, respectively.
In a 183-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Tuesday, lawyers for the Frederick school district argued the companies had intentionally designed their apps to be addictive and marketed them to children, who are “uniquely susceptible” to manipulation.
Frederick schools have been forced to divert funds and resources to address the “pervasiveness of social media addiction” and deal with its social and emotional impact on students, the complaint says.
The Frederick schools are being represented by the law firm Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico, of Maryland and Delaware, plus Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, a California-based firm serving as co-lead counsel in the nationwide multidistrict litigation against the companies, according to The Frederick News Post.
Carroll County Superintendent Cynthia McCabe said in April that the lawsuit would be similar to a class action suit filed against vaping company Juul Labs in which CCPS was awarded a $465,000 settlement.
McCabe explained that the success with the Juul Labs lawsuit inspired a discussion with legal counsel about the possibility of filing the social media lawsuit.
William Shinoff is lead public entity attorney with Frantz Law Group in California and is the lead attorney in the social media suits. He was also lead litigator against Juul.
Complaints from school administrators about the role social media plays in schools was the impetus to challenge the social media companies with a lawsuit, Shinoff said.
One common misconception about the lawsuits is that they are one class action suit, Shinoff said. In fact, the lawsuits will be filed in numerous jurisdictions, constituting a mass action suit, which will be later be combined into one case in a northern California federal court. Shinoff said it makes legal sense to do it this way, and he expects social media companies will file motions to dismiss each lawsuit in the next phase of the legal process.
“Each district is providing their own story,” Shinoff said. “... What has been consistent across the board with all my clients is that issues with social media is not a monthly problem, or a weekly problem, or even a daily problem. It’s literally an hourly problem.
“Every hour they’re dealing with some issue on campus related to social media, and it’s happening not only on their high school campuses, but also on their middle school and elementary school campuses,” he added. “At this point, it’s become a disruption to the learning environment and a hardship on resources for the school districts.”
While Shinoff represents the majority of districts to file suit, he said Frederick will be represented by its own lawyers, with whom he will offer to collaborate, in presenting the details of how social media companies have allegedly harmed students.
For a ruling favorable to the schools, Shinoff must prove under public nuisance law that social media companies caused harm in schools, were aware of the harm they were causing, and failed to provide adequate warning of that harm.
“We feel very strong on this case,” Shinoff said. “We believe the law and the facts are in our favor and that we should be successful at the end of the day.”
Win or lose, it costs nothing other than staff time for a school system to participate in the case, Shinoff said.
Shinoff said he hopes legal efforts also move the needle on social media regulations. Several platforms have added parental control features and several states have passed legislation aimed at protecting children since the filing of lawsuits began. Montana has gone so far as to ban TikTok statewide.
“We advise that Meta and these other companies are in the business of addiction,” Shinoff said, “and that the way they profit off children is by sending them harmful and divisive content because that’s what keeps them on — and the more time they’re on, the more money they make.”
Should have been recognized and addressed a decade or more ago.
Nope. Sorry, but the government schools have no standing here.
As much as I support the end of indoctrinating children via Social Media, the school house is not the place to start.
Besides - government schools indoctrinate children in far worse ways than Social Media.
Interesting.
You are correct. Sounds like a territorial dispute.
Turf war!
Social media should make it 18+. But how will they verify? Everyone has to use their credit card. Elon Musk said you have to pay $1 to tweet. Not a bad idea.
Sounds like a territorial dispute.
__________________________________________
Yep. With children caught in the middle.
Social Media: “They’re mine!
Schools: “Go away. We had them first.”
Parents: “Hey, wait a minute...”
Both: “SHUT UP PARENTS.”
No tik toc?
“Social media companies have allegedly contributed to a mental health crisis among Carroll County students and caused eating disorders, cyberbullying, depression and anxiety among other issues.”
So why don’t parents lay down the law as to what and how long their kiddos spend on “social media” aka “antisocial media”?
I can’t stand social media, but I find it hard to believe that social media could cause an otherwise healthy and happy child to commit suicide or develop an eating disorder. That sounds dangerously close to the liberal “logic” that blames our First Amendment rights of free speech for the suicide of trans kids.
Social media should make it 18+. But how will they verify?
Seems to me if I have to upload a picture of my driver's license to check in electronically for a doctor's appointment, the same requirement could be implemented to restrict social media accounts to 16+ without charging a fee.
I would suggest that parents monitor their children's activities more closely.
Makes sense. I think the argument can be made that they're not mature enough to handle social media until they turn 18. So no Tik-Tok, SnapChat, Instagram, etc.
They'll have to rely on text messaging and emails. But they wouldn't be able to make posts on social media and bully each other in front of the entire world.
Yes, but government schools are NOT addictive.
“The Carroll County Board of Education unanimously voted April 12 to join other Maryland school districts in a lawsuit against social media companies that claims the companies knowingly caused harm to students.”
-snip
“In a 183-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Tuesday, lawyers for the Frederick school district argued the companies had intentionally designed their apps to be addictive and marketed them to children, who are “uniquely susceptible” to manipulation”
Uh huh. This from the same school district that encourages brainwashing the kids into transgenderism and keeping it secret from the parents?
Parents’ rights group considering legal action over FCPS gender
Marxists transfering the wealth and destroying the means of earning money.
The social media companies can counter sue the schools for a failure to educate the indoctrinated little communists.
“Social media should make it 18+. But how will they verify?
The WEF has it all set.
https://dig.watch/updates/un-pushes-for-global-digital-id-system-to-boost-financial-inclusion#:~:text=This%20system%20aims%20to%20provide,cooperation%20and%20sustainable%20development%20goals.
Government has the addiction, spending more and more money. Eventually they can’t raise taxes more so they have to find another way to feed the addiction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.