On March 28, Canadian schools joined a legal battle against Big Tech, filing a lawsuit accusing social media platforms of harming the mental health and education of children in the country.
According to a VNA correspondent in Canada, four major education boards in Ontario have filed a complaint with the provincial court. In the lawsuit, the education boards in Toronto, Ottawa and Peel Region accuse "Big Tech" such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, ByteDance, which owns TikTok, and Snap Inc., which owns Snapchat, of engaging in exploitative business practices, seeking to maximize profits despite the risk of harming the mental health and well-being of students.
The lawsuit says the addictive nature of social media has forced teachers to spend more time in class to help students focus on their lessons. The mandatory use of social media platforms in teaching also strains the already limited resources of education boards, as schools require more staff and mental health programs; more staff to address aggressive behavior and cyberbullying; and increased IT services and cybersecurity costs. The plaintiffs are seeking a total of about $4.5 billion CAD (more than $3.3 billion USD) in damages and require Big Tech to redesign its products to ensure student safety.
Spokespeople for Meta and ByteDance have not yet commented officially on this lawsuit, while a Snap spokesperson said that the Snapchat platform was intentionally designed to be different from other social media platforms, helping users to communicate better with friends or relatives.
The use of social media by children and adolescents is a topic of widespread discussion among parents, policymakers and educators. In Canada, there is growing concern that social media platforms are fueling cyberbullying, disrupting sleep, and hindering brain development and attention spans in young people.
A recent survey by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health found that 91% of students in grades 7 to 12 use social media daily, and more than 30% of this group spends five hours or more a day on social media. According to Canadian education authorities, about half of Ontario students don’t get enough sleep, in part because of their addiction to these platforms. Psychological distress and physical disorders are also common, requiring schools to spend millions of CAD to hire social workers, counselors and other staff.
According to VNA
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