Four Ontario school boards sue Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok

Four of Ontario’s largest school boards are suing the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok alleging the social media platforms are disrupting student learning.

The lawsuits claim the platforms are negligently designed for compulsive use and have rewired the way children think, behave and learn, leaving teachers and schools to manage the fallout.

They claim students are experiencing an attention, learning, and mental health crisis because of prolific and compulsive use of social media products.

“The fall out of compulsive use of social media amongst students is causing massive strains on the four school boards’ finite resources, including additional needs for in-school mental health programming and personnel, increased IT costs, and additional administrative resources,” the school boards said in a news release Thursday.

A recent survey found teens spend an average of 5.8 hours on social media a day.

READ MORE: Toronto school board cancels classes on day of solar eclipse

The allegations in the lawsuits filed in Ontario Superior Court have not been proven.

The school boards suing are the Toronto District School Board, the Peel District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

They are seeking damages in excess of $4 billion for disruption to student learning and the education system.

The school board says some of the things they are seeing are social withdrawal, aggressive behavior, inability to focus, anxiety as well as mental health and well-being challenges in students.

Parenting expert Michelle McVittie agrees there is a connection between social media and teen mental health issues, but she doesn’t know if this lawsuit is the solution.

The Hailton Wentworth Catholic District School Board says it is considering getting involved in the suit against the social media companies.

Premier Doug Ford does not agree with the school boards suing the social media companies.

READ MORE: Hamilton public school board probes trustee’s pro-Palestine social media posts

“We banned cell phones in classrooms, I disagree with them. Let’s focus on education, math and writing, that’s what we need to do with our resources. What are they spending on lawyer fees to go after these companies with ending cash. Let’s focus on kids not this nonsense,” said Ford.

Francis Syms from Humber College doesn’t think the lawsuit will work. Syms doubts the school board will be able to win $4.5 billion from the companies, “what I do think will happen is that the social media companies will have to put some walled garden rules, like geo-fence so people can’t use the devices in the classroom, I suspect the social media companies will try to do something like investing in the schools,” said Syms.

Meta Platforms Inc. owns Facebook and Instagram, while Snap Inc. owns Snapchat and ByteDance Ltd. owns TikTok.

The companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.