Cary, North Carolina — The Wake County School Board plans to join a lawsuit against social media companies, arguing that schools need to deal with the fallout of psychological damage caused by the apps.
The school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to participate.
Wake joins a long list of school boards already suing Meta, Google, ByteDance and Snap. North Carolina’s other 11 school systems include schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, Clinton City, Cumberland County, Johnston County, Wilson County, Union County, Robeson County, Moore County, Wayne County, Pitt County, and Rockingham County. They have already sued the company and are joined by hundreds more schools across the country.
And as of December, at least 42 attorneys general, including North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, have also filed lawsuits.
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In a news release issued Tuesday night, the school board argued that companies are designing addictive apps to maximize advertising revenue.
“The algorithms powering these platforms are designed to exploit human psychology in ways comparable to gambling and drug use, manipulating users to remain on the platform for as long as possible,” the news release states. ing. “Young people are especially susceptible to this highly addictive influence, and the content they consume is harmful, including glorifying eating disorders and encouraging dangerous tendencies, violence against others, self-harm, and suicide. It is often something.”
Lawsuits against social media companies allege that the companies failed to warn teenage users of potential harm, causing psychological damage to users in the form of increased eating disorders, depression, and anxiety. There is. School boards say they have been forced to redirect education spending to efforts to improve children’s mental health.
The lawsuits filed by each school board are similar: counselors are overwhelmed with calls for help, students are distracted during class, students post about each other during class, teachers are They claim they spend a lot of time disciplining students. Activities related to social media.
The lawsuit seeks to compensate schools for money already spent on social media-related issues and provide funding to address future issues.
Board Chairman Chris Heagerty called the lawsuit “common sense,” noting that these apps are also frequently used for bullying, and that board members regularly receive calls and emails about the issue. did.
After the meeting, he told students that they had found ways to circumvent the social media ban within the school system’s network during class.
“So there’s very little we can do to help students who might be sitting in a classroom being victimized, bullied or just being bombarded with hurtful and harmful messages.” said Hegerty.
Banning cell phone use in classrooms is also not a politically popular choice. This is because many parents insist on providing their children with constant means of communication.
“If you enact a policy that parents don’t support or don’t enforce, you’re going to spend all your time enforcing that policy and no time to focus on educating your children,” Hegarty said. . “We really need buy-in, and we hope that people will recognize the harm that’s out there and move past this…but we’re not there right now.”
Director Wing Ng said the lawsuit aims to establish standards for social media.
“It’s like having a car. The car is a tool, and the internet is a tool,” he said. “Sure, you can speed 150 to 180 miles per hour, but is it really wise? That’s why speed limits are in place to promote safety. And what we’re doing now In a way, I feel like they’re trying to provide a strict mechanism to keep us safe.” Children. “
The other lawsuits were combined into one national lawsuit in federal court in Northern California. The Wake County Board of Education also plans to join these lawsuits.
“I think if you have a large number of school boards across the country, you’re going to see change,” said Janet Ward Black, an attorney with one of the firms that works with the Wake school board.
The board retains Ward Black Law, Baird Mandaras Broxtedt, and Federico to pursue the case. The commission will not pay any money for the case, but the lawyers will earn fees from settlements and judgments.
On Tuesday, the school board heard from Ward Black of Ward Black Law and Matthew Legg of Baird Mandaras Broxtedt and Federico. These two law firms represent school districts in North Carolina and beyond.
