Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Sue Social Media Companies
The Charlotte Mecklenburg School District is suing social media companies for an “unprecedented mental health crisis” caused by their products.
In a nearly 200-page complaint filed late last week in Federal District Court, the CMS board alleges social media tactics to encourage compulsive use are harming children. The lawsuit names Meta/Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google and Youtube.
“American children are suffering an unprecedented mental health crisis fueled by Defendants’ addictive and dangerous social media products,” the complaint stated in its introduction. “In the past decade, Americans’ engagement with social media grew exponentially, nowhere more dramatically than among our country’s youth. That explosion in usage is no accident. It is the result of Defendants’ studied efforts to induce young people to compulsively use their products.”
The suit claims that social media companies exploit psychological and neurological factors to increase usage. Those techniques are particularly effective and harmful to young people, the complaint states. It even included a quote from the U.S. Surgeon General about what social media is doing to children.
“You have some of the best designers and product developers in the world who have designed these products to make sure people are maximizing the amount of time they spend on these platforms. And if we tell a child, use the force of your willpower to control how much time you’re spending, you’re pitting a child against the world’s greatest product designers.”
School board members say the problems created by social media require additional resources to manage. They also point to the effects of anxiety and depression on students, including reduced academic performance, truancy, substance abuse and behavior issues.
According the the Carolina Journal, more than 200 other school districts across the country have filed similar suits. More are expected.
