Four Ontario school boards have filed $4.5 billion in lawsuits against social media giants Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram), accusing them of intentionally harming students, interfering with their learning, and harming their mental health, leaving educators to “manage the fallout.” In four separate but similar cases filed Wednesday in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, the public boards of Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa, as well as the Toronto Catholic board, allege that popular social media platforms were “designed for compulsive use (and) have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn” and are calling on the companies to make improvements, according to their statements of claim.
School boards have had to bring in people, resources, and programs to minimize the “significant impacts that these addictive platforms”
School boards have had to bring in people, resources, and programs to minimize the “significant impacts that these addictive platforms are having on our students,” according to Colleen Russell-Rawlins, director of education at the Toronto District School Board, the largest in the country. “We’re managing mental health challenges, loneliness and … discrimination — the slurs that we’re seeing students use, some of that emanates from what’s on social media,” she went on to say. “We really want to raise awareness and ultimately get these companies to acknowledge and make these things safer,” said Brendan Browne, director of education for the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Snapchat’s representative stated that the platform was “intentionally designed to be different from traditional social media, with a focus on helping Snapchatters communicate with their close friends.” Snapchat opens immediately to a camera, not a feed of material, and there are no traditional public likes or comments. Even though “we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy, and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence,” the spokesman went on to say.
Russell-Rawlins said boards have struggled, adding “Our students are not fully present” given studies have shown that more than 90 per cent of kids in Grades 7 to 12 use social media daily, and 45 per cent of them for more than five hours which “takes them away from the social relationships that are part of the fabric of their growth and development and socialization.” Add cyberbullying into the mix, with the “escalation of aggression that shows up in schools for teachers, vice-principals, principals and other professionals to help students manage and de-escalate.” The four boards are represented by Neinstein LLP, and will not be out of pocket for legal costs as the firm will take a contingency fee. Duncan Embury, the firm’s head of litigation, said the boards “view this as part of a process designed to create change because we’re hearing first-hand from educators about the enormous harms that are occurring day-to-day in the school system because of these products.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law prohibiting children under the age of 14 from using social media
Embury is unaware of any comparable instances in Canada, although over 500 school districts in the United States have filed similar cases that are currently being heard in court. Just last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law prohibiting children under the age of 14 from using social media and demanding parental consent for those aged 14 and 15, citing worries about their mental health and well-being. Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, stated that it is up to other boards to determine whether to participate. “Students have been encouraged to prank, which has led to school violence and online postings…” And it is truly landing in our classrooms where teachers are having to deal with behaviours” and boards have to direct “so many of our resources to it,” added Browne.
Pino Buffone, director of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, said “we encourage the integration of technology … but there’s no question that (these platforms) are distracting students and leading to a number of wellness issues — concerns that our students, our parents, guardians and caregivers are expressing.” The boards allege the social media companies have “knowingly and/or negligently disrupted and fundamentally changed the school, learning, and teaching climate by creating and sustaining prolific and/or compulsive use of their products by students,” say their statements of claim. “The defendants knew, or ought to have known, that their negligent conduct seriously and negatively impacts the student population by causing maladaptive brain development, compulsive use, disrupted sleep patterns, behavioural dysregulation, learning and attention impairment, and other serious issues that impact the school, learning, and teaching climate,” the statements of claim also say.