TikTok and Meta are being sued by the Seattle school district for allegedly contributing to a youth mental health crisis.
On Friday, a Seattle public school district filed a lawsuit against YouTube, TikTok, Snap, and Meta for allegedly causing a mental health crisis among its student body.
According to the lawsuit, the businesses' algorithms were promoting content that supported eating disorders.
The district asked for punitive damages as well as an end to the public nuisance that the tech corporations were generating. Although tech companies are not responsible for the information that their users upload, the lawsuit focuses on the algorithm's suggestions and content.
According to the complaint, defendants should be held responsible for their own deeds rather than what third parties may have said about them on their platforms. "Defendants affirmatively promote and suggest harmful materials to young people, such as material that supports anorexia and eating disorders."
The lawsuit also claimed that from 2009 to 2019, there was a 30% increase in mental health problems, including anxiety and sadness.
Students in Seattle Public Schools claimed to have ceased engaging in several common activities because they felt "so depressed or hopeless practically every day for two weeks or more in a run."
Fox News Digital requested comments from the defendant businesses.
Although we are unable to comment on the facts of pending litigation, the wellness of our community is of utmost importance to Snap, Inc., the parent company of Snapchat.
The spokesperson stated, "Snapchat was created to let people communicate with their genuine friends without some of the social comparison and public pressure characteristics of traditional social media platforms, and purposely makes it difficult for strangers to reach young people. As part of our ongoing efforts to make our community safe, "we also work directly with several mental health organizations to provide in-app tools and support for Snapchatters." We'll keep working to make sure our platform is secure and provide tools to Snapchatters who are struggling with mental health concerns so they can deal with the problems that today's youth must overcome.
The following was stated in a statement that Google gave to ABC: "We have extensively invested in building safe experiences for children across our platforms and have introduced strong protections and dedicated features to prioritize their well-being."
Todd Ricketts, chairman of the finance committee for the Republican National Committee, wants to offer an alternative because Google was never formally given control over the information that Americans consume. by the Associated Press
TikTok has been criticized for posing a threat to national security. According to an email acquired by Fox News, the House ordered the immediate removal of the social networking app TikTok from their smartphones in December.
Staff workers and politicians were informed by House Chief Administrative Office Catherine L. Szpindor via email that TikTok is prohibited "from every House-managed gadget.
The email states that the policy is effective "immediately."
This announcement follows the inclusion of a bill to prohibit TikTok from executive branch government devices in the 4,000+ page omnibus bill passed last week by Congress.
