Reason Magazine has an interesting report on a school district suing TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram due to them being responsible for “creating a youth mental health crisis.”
The Oceanside Unified School District, based in the small city of Oceanside that sits halfway between San Diego and LA, filed a federal lawsuit against these apps saying they created “anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm, and suicidal ideation” among their students.
The schools cite increased costs as the reason for the lawsuit. They say there’s been a dramatic increase in funding needed for mental health services to address the stress these apps cause.
They also cite a violation of the public nuisance law, which might be a bit of a stretch. But, they do make an interesting point. The school district says these apps are specifically designed for extended, unhealthy use, and that they promote destructive and harmful content. The hook of this, of course, is that these apps are specifically geared towards children. This, according to the district, has exacerbated the youth mental health crisis, particularly seeing an increase in suicide and self harm.
But a law professor tells the Los Angeles Times that the suit is unlikely to be successful saying, “The law really requires a high burden of proof demonstrating that causal relationship, If you have a bunch of different potential causes, it’s harder to sort out individual parties for responsibility.”
Still, it could produce a snowball effect. A school district in Washington did try the same thing but ultimately failed. But, if a number of school districts with some funding behind them came together and sued, they might actually have some heft. Stay tuned.
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