Four of Canada’s largest school boards have launched a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the social media companies Meta, Snap Inc and ByteDance, accusing them of acting in a “high-handed, reckless, malicious, and reprehensible manner” with products the boards claim harm student learning and “rewire” how children think.
The four district boards – Ottawa-Carleton, Toronto, Peel and Toronto Catholic – filed four separate statements of claim in Ontario’s superior court of justice on Wednesday.
“The lawsuit claims that social media products, negligently designed for compulsive use, have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn, leaving educators and schools to manage the fallout,” the boards said in a statement, adding the companies used “exploitative business practices” and chose to “maximize profits” instead of focusing on the mental health and wellbeing of students.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
In recent years, educators have spend a growing share of their time in the classroom attempting to get students to focus, the boards said. They blame the addictive nature of social media and apps like Instagram, TikTok and SnapChat which they say have also led to a spike in cyberbullying and mental health issues. To compensate for mounting administrative costs of the fallout, as well as the “strain” on the teachers, the boards are seeking C$4.5bn (US$3.3bn) from the companies.
The lawsuit is the first of its kind in Canada, but follows similar efforts in the United States amid a growing concern over the developmental effects of social media on young users.
In a statement Snap said the platform was “intentionally designed to be different from traditional social media” so that users could communicate with friends.
“While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence,” the company said. Meta and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
