Social Media School Districts Lawsuit

School districts are suing social media companies for damages incurred as a result of the alleged harms to students by ByteDance, Google, Meta, and Snap, Inc. They allege that the defective designs of these platforms lead to social media addiction and other mental health harms in children.

This unprecedented mental health crisis has substantially impacted how schools have to operate to address their students’ needs. Schools have found they need to enhance mental health counseling resources. They also must rapidly adjust how they teach students to combat the effects of social media use.

School districts allege that social media companies:

• Target young people through their marketing
• Exploit how young minds work by using features that keep them using their platforms
• Encourage addiction to the platforms by using intermittent variable rewards, clustered timing of notifications and endless scrolling feeds.

School district social media lawsuits seek to hold social media companies accountable for the design, distribution, operation and promotion of their platforms.

Which social media companies are school districts suing?

School districts and local governments are suing the following social media companies:

• ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok
• Google, the parent company of YouTube
• Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram
• Snap, Inc., the parent company of Snapchat

How are the school district social media lawsuits proceeding?

Over a thousand school districts and local governments have filed individual cases against the makers of social media apps. Many of these suits have been consolidated into a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL).

An MDL is not the same as a class action lawsuit. It is an action federal courts may use when many parties allege similar harms against a similar collection of defendants. The MDL allows the court system to establish common facts and speed up the proceedings for all parties. Cases in an MDL are tried individually and are resolved on the specific facts of that case alone.

The MDL is called In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (MDL 3047). These consolidated actions are being litigated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. School district claims have been consolidated with individual personal injury social media lawsuits.

School districts considering taking legal action against social media companies may want to talk to a social media harm lawyer. Social media attorneys can help you understand how to file a lawsuit.

Speaking with an attorney at Motley Rice about social media claims comes with no upfront costs. We represent our clients on a contingency fee basis. This means you will not pay any fees or expenses unless you obtain a recovery. If you receive compensation, our fee will be a percentage of your recovery and will be calculated before any of your claim and lawsuit costs and expenses are deducted. Costs and expenses will be deducted and paid from your recovery.

Social media has harmed schools through the mental health impacts on students and the expense of combatting the youth mental health crisis. School districts and local governments allege in their lawsuits that the design of these platforms fosters addiction and leads to a wide range of additional mental health harms.

How social media has harmed young people

School districts allege that their students have suffered mental health issues including:

• Addiction to social media
• Anxiety
• Body dissatisfaction
• Decreased life satisfaction
• Depression
• Eating disorders
• Loneliness
• Lower self-esteem
• Sleep disorders
• Self-harm
• Suicidal thoughts

The school districts claim that these mental health harms among teens are happening because of how the platforms and apps are designed and operated.

Costs incurred by schools to handle social media harms

School districts and local governments allege that they are spending a lot of money to help their students with mental health issues. These costs come from providing mental health support and buying more resources to help children learn.

Schools are one of the main providers of mental health resources for millions of pre-teens and teens. The number of students seeking mental health assistance at school has increased in more than two-thirds of public schools since early 2020. This period also saw a spike in social media use among young people.

These mental health harms also affect how students focus on their schoolwork. Students from middle school through high school report that anxiety, depression and stress are significantly impacting their ability to learn. Poor sleep has been linked to excessive social media use and can also disrupt school performance.

Teachers and staff are also forced to contend with behavioral issues that may be linked to compulsive social media use. These issues include:

• Classroom disruptions
• Damage to property that may come from following social media challenges
• Skipping classes
• Tardiness
• Threats and fights between students
• Using cell phones and other electronics during class

School districts wishing to file a lawsuit against social media companies must be able to show that they have been harmed and that social media caused the harm.

• Harms: This may include increased costs for mental health resources, increased resources to address students’ behavior, costs associated with changing lesson plans to accommodate changing student needs and costs associated with repairing school damage.
• Social media causation: Schools must be able to show that social media is the most immediate cause of the harms alleged in the case.

A social media harm lawyer can work with school districts to determine if they are eligible to file a lawsuit.

In addition to holding leadership positions in the social media multidistrict litigation (MDL), attorneys at Motley Rice have experience working with state and local governments to address wrongdoing impacting their constituents. Our firm’s experience includes:

• Reaching the largest civil litigation settlement against “Big Tobacco” with dozens of attorneys general and municipalities
• Working with state attorneys general in addressing the opioid epidemic
• Addressing “forever chemicals” in PFAS lawsuits for state and local governments, here in the U.S. and abroad