USA: School districts and local governments continue to file lawsuits against social media companies over alleged negative effects of their platforms on children's mental health
"Marin education office sues social media companies", 24 May 2023
The Marin County Office of Education is suing social media companies, claiming they have a negative effect on children’s mental health...
The lawsuit is part of multidistrict litigation involving multiple cases. Many of the cases, including Marin’s, are being consolidated before U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
The suit alleges that the social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, TikTok and Google-owned YouTube have violated California laws for public nuisance, unfair competition, negligence and racketeering...
Marin County and other plaintiffs are seeking “changes in defendants’ social media platform designs and the implementation of protections for youth users,” said Aelish Baig, a San Francisco attorney who is representing Marin in the suit.
“We are also seeking funds to be used to abate the youth mental health crisis,” Baig said.
Attorney Phyllis Jones, who is representing one of the chief defendants, Meta Platforms Inc., parent company of Facebook and Instagram, referred all inquiries to the company. Representatives could not immediately be reached for comment...
According to the Marin suit, the tactics used by the social media companies are intentionally done to increase profits....