FILE - The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., Friday, March 17, 2023. Four of the largest school boards in the Canadian province of Ontario launched lawsuits Thursday, March 28, 2024, against TikTok, Meta and SnapChat alleging the social media platforms are disrupting student learning. Meta Platforms Inc. owns Facebook and Instagram, while Snap Inc. owns SnapChat and ByteDance Ltd. owns TikTok.
The school boards in Canada suing are the Toronto District School Board, the Peel District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.Duncan Embury, a lawyer for the firm representing the boards, said in the statement the most advanced tech developers in the world have knowingly and negligently designed their products to maximize the amount of time young people spend on their platforms at the expense of their wellbeing and education.
“Social media companies should be held accountable for their negligence and the harm they have caused to our schools, and our community at large,” he said. The use of social media among teens is nearly universal in the U.S. and many other parts of the world.ages 13 to 17 in the U.S. report using a social media platform, with about a third saying they use social media “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.called on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take “immediate action to protect kids now” from the harms of social media.
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