DEXTER, MI – Dexter Community Schools is joining a federal lawsuit alleging social media products like Facebook and Instagram have a “defective design” that isn’t safe, particularly for kids.
During its Monday, April 10 meeting, the Dexter School Board unanimously approved joining the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California.
The district has entered into an attorney-client fee contract with California-based Frantz Law Group, which represented more than 125 Michigan schools in successfully settling nationwide litigation against Juul and other vaping product manufacturers.
The current lawsuit specifically lists Meta Platforms, Inc. as the plaintiff, while several other social media companies like TikTok’s ByteDance, Inc. and Snapchat’s Snap Inc. have been added by dozens of others across the country who have signed on to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges technology companies focus on “maximizing time spent, not time well spent,” and that there have been growing concerns about the impact of social media on the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents.
Researchers argue social media facilitates cyberbullying, contributes to obesity and eating disorders, instigates sleep deprivation, encourages children to negatively compare themselves to others and to develop a broad discontentment for life, the lawsuit states.
“Defendants have intentionally designed their products to maximize users’ screen time, using complex algorithms designed to exploit human psychology and driven by advanced computer algorithms and artificial intelligence available to two of the largest technology companies in the world,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants have progressively modified their products to promote problematic and excessive use that they know threatens the actuation of addictive and self- destructive behavioral patterns.”
Meta Head of Safety Antigone Davis reassures parents that the company has their interests at heart in the work it is doing to provide teens with safe, supportive experiences online.
Meta has developed more than 30 tools to support teens and their families, from age verification technology to allowing parents to decide when, and for how long, their teens use Instagram, he said.
“We’ve invested in technology that finds and removes content related to suicide, self-injury or eating disorders before anyone reports it to us,” Davis said in a statement. “These are complex issues but we will continue working with experts and listening to parents to develop new tools, features and policies that are effective and meet the needs of teens and their families.”
While schools count on parents to support their children with proper social media use, media companies are actively marketing to children, Dexter Community Schools Superintendent Chris Timmis said, noting children often have their own cell phones by age 6 and are on social media by age 8.
Social media platforms like Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old, Timmis said, adding it’s easy to circumvent that by entering a fake birth date.
“What we see with the behaviors of kids is the apps are highly-addictive and the technology is written to keep people on it,” Timmis said. “Our kids are making terrible mistakes on social media, and they’re not prepared to use it.”
The lawsuit states the addictive qualities of social media products and their harmful algorithms have “intentionally created an attractive nuisance to children.”
The complaint states that plaintiffs only recently learned the truth about Meta’s increasingly detrimental effect on teenagers when Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, came forward with internal documents showing that Meta was aware that its platforms and products cause significant harm to its users, especially children.
“Rather than making meaningful changes to safeguard the health and safety of its adolescent users, Meta has consistently chosen to prioritize profit over safety,” the lawsuit states.
The defendants’ position, outlined in the lawsuit, states that plaintiffs’ attempt to use product liability law to impose liability on social media companies represents “an unprecedented use of tort law to attack intangible communications services.”
“The medical conditions plaintiffs describe are troubling, and defendants deeply sympathize with plaintiffs and their families,” the lawsuit states. “But defendants dispute they were the cause of these alleged harms.”
Schools have become the point of contact for social media-related incidents that occur outside of school or when school isn’t in session on the weekends, Timmis said
Ultimately, Timmis said social media use among young people is a “national problem that is negatively impacting our kids.”
“This is the least that we can do to try to force some change,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter what we clamp down on at different levels. Our kids have that access and even in the youngest grades when we won’t let them have phones in classes, they still find ways to get to their phones during the day.”
Frantz Law Group will represent Dexter Community Schools on a contingency fee basis, meaning Frantz will not charge any fees or costs unless there is a financial recovery.
READ MORE:
Solar power could be coming to Dexter schools
A Washtenaw County school will pilot a new AP African American studies course
Washtenaw County educator awarded for being a pioneer in bringing middle colleges to Michigan
Credit:Source link
