From Schools for Social Media Change:
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 Lakeland 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
“We see this as a critical issue affecting student learning and well-being,” Wes Hahn, Trillium Lakelands District School Board. “It is a starting point to reduce the compulsive use of social media and one of many approaches we are taking for the betterment of TLDSB students. If no action for change is made, compulsive social media use outside the classroom will continue to permeate the education system and impact student learning.”
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.
About Schools for Social Media Change
Schools for Social Media Change is a concerned group of school boards, Canadian leaders and organizations working together to strengthen our students’ fundamental right to education. Social media products, designed for compulsive use, have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn. Our schools are unfairly bearing the brunt of the learning and mental health epidemic caused by the negligent conduct of social media companies. The school boards listed on schoolsboardsforchange.ca have commenced legal action against social media giants for this disruption to student learning and the education system.
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