On charges of harming the mental health of students. American school officials are suing technology giants

 

Officials from public schools in the US city of Seattle have filed a complaint against social networks such as Facebook and TikTok, accusing them of negatively affecting the mental health of young users.

This complaint targets the Facebook and Instagram platforms of the Meta network, as well as Snapchat and YouTube, in addition to the TikTok platform owned by the Chinese “ByteDance” company, and Google, which is affiliated with the “Alphabet” network.

Public school officials in the city, located in the state of Washington in the northwest of the United States, said that they want to "hold the companies that own social media responsible for the harm they cause to the social, emotional and mental health of students," according to what was stated in their 

statement.

Suicides

The statement added, "The increase in suicides, suicide attempts, and admissions to the emergency department for reasons related to mental health is not a coincidence (...), this crisis was exacerbating before the pandemic, and research has concluded that social networks play a major role in the emergence of mental health problems in young people." .

In this complaint filed on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse, the plaintiffs accused these companies of exploiting "the psychological state of their users and their neurophysiology to push them to spend more time on their platforms (...), which caused a mental health crisis among American youth."

In contact with Agence France-Presse, Meta Network said it had "developed more than 30 tools to support teens and families, including moderation tools that allow parents to limit the time their teens spend on Instagram, and verification technology that helps teens get age-appropriate experiences." According to Antigone Davis, who is responsible for the safety of the network.

"We will continue to work closely with experts, policy makers and parents on these important issues," she added in an emailed comment.

Safe experiences

For its part, Google indicated that it had "invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children on its platforms," and "provided strong protections and features dedicated to prioritizing their well-being," according to network spokesman Jose Castaneda.

And on social media, activists re-published the news, considering that this decision is the best, because these networks burn the minds of young people, according to a number of them.