Seattle General School District Big Tech Sues For Creating Mental Crisis In Students

Social media was sued because it was considered to have caused a mental crisis in students. (photo: Doc. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Seattle's public school district filed a lawsuit against Big Tech and claimed they were responsible for the deteriorating mental health crisis among students and directly affected the ability of schools to carry out their educational missions.

The lawsuit filed on Friday January 6 against Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Snap Inc and TikTok owner ByteDance, was filed at the US District Court, claiming that social media companies deliberately designed their products to attract young people to their platforms and create mental health crises.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, Google said it had invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across its platform and had introduced "strong protections and special features to prioritize their well-being."

While Snap says it has teamed up with many mental health organizations to provide tools and in-app resources for users and that its community welfare is its top priority.

Meta and TikTok platforms did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. In the past, the company said it aims to create a pleasant experience for users and exclude harmful content and invest in content moderation and control.

The lawsuit also said the company's actions had become an important factor that caused a mental health crisis for young people.

"The defendant has succeeded in exploiting the brains of vulnerable young people, linking tens of millions of students across the country into a positive feedback circle from excessive use and abuse of the Defendant's social media platform," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also states that Students with mental health problems appear worse, causing schools to take steps including training teachers to identify and address these symptoms, hire trained personnel, and create additional resources to warn students about social media hazards.

The lawsuit wants to seek compensation for monetary damage and other penalties.

In 2021, US lawmakers accused Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of pushing for higher profits at the expense of children's mental health following testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen. Facebook has consistently disagreed with Haugen's characterization that the company failed to protect teenage girls on Instagram.

"Argumen bahwa kami dengan sengaja mendorong konten yang membuat orang marah untuk keuntungan sangat tidak masuk," tulis Zuckerberg di halaman Facebook sebagai tanggapan.

"We make money from advertising, and advertisers have consistently told us that they don't want their ads alongside harmful or angry content. And I don't know any tech companies want to make products that make people angry or depressed," Zuckerberg added.