The addition of publicly funded school boards and private schools broadens the gravity of the litigation, which now represents the impact on nearly 1 million students across the province
TORONTO, May 29, 2024 /CNW/ – Seven additional schools and boards have joined the lawsuit against tech giants Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok for disrupting student learning and the education system. These schools and boards join four of Ontario’s largest school boards who initially launched the suit in March. The lawsuits filed by these boards and schools claim social media products, intentionally designed for compulsive use, have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn and educators within these boards/schools have been left to manage the fallout.
The new schools to join the lawsuit include public and Catholic school boards:
- Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB)
- York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB)
- Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB)
- Ottawa Catholic District School Board (OCSB)
- District School Board of Niagara (DSBN)
- and private schools Holy Name of Mary College School and Eitz Chaim
The mix of public and Catholic school boards, and private schools in both urban and rural regions of Ontario demonstrate this is a universal issue that affects those from diverse cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. The addictive properties of the products designed by social media giants have compromised all students’ ability to learn, disrupted classrooms and created a student population that suffers from increasing mental health harms. As a result, social media companies have forced school boards to divert significant resources including personnel, hours, funds, and attention to combat the growing crisis caused by their products.
The lawsuit, led by Toronto-based boutique litigation firm Neinstein LLP, calls on social media giants to redesign their products to keep students safe. These changes will result in a reduction in mental health harms to youth and disruptions to the education system. The lawsuit also seeks compensation on behalf of school boards for the losses related to tackling the crisis social media has created in our schools. School boards will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.
While the use of devices in schools is one piece of the puzzle, this is a multifaceted problem. The announcement, coupled with the provincial government’s recent policies limiting cell phone use in schools, highlights concerns surrounding social media products. These lawsuits address the compulsive social media use happening both during school hours and outside the classroom, which continues to permeate the education system, impacting student learning and well-being.
To learn more about the lawsuit and to follow developments, please visit the Schools for Social Media Change Alliance at https://schoolboardsforchange.ca.