Seattle schools sue Big Tech over youth mental health crisis

The companies’ front line of defence is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the 1996 federal statute giving internet platforms broad immunity from claims over harmful content posted by users. The law has so effectively shielded them from legal claims that voices on both sides of politics have called for its reform.

“We have invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across our platforms and have introduced strong protections and dedicated features to prioritise their wellbeing,” Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said in an email.

“For example, through Family Link, we provide parents with the ability to set reminders, limit screen time and block specific types of content on supervised devices.”

Public nuisance

Meta declined to comment. Representatives of Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The companies have previously said they are working to protect their youngest users, including by offering resources on mental health topics and improving safeguards to stop the spread of harmful content.

And in a further recent example of pushback against how tech developments are encroaching on children’s lives, the New York City public school system – the largest in the US – last week banned its students from accessing the ChatGPT artificial intelligence program to generate text.

In Friday’s suit, Seattle School District No. 1 is asking a judge to find that the companies have created a public nuisance and to order remedies including monetary damages and funding to prevent and treat excessive use of social media.

The district said it had seen a dramatic increase in suicides and emergency room mental health visits. It cited President Joe Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address in which he implored all to “hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit”.

“Seattle School District No. 1 brings this action to do just that,” according to the complaint. “Youth in plaintiff’s community are experiencing the same mental health crisis observed nationally.”

Bloomberg

Read More