Four Ontario school boards which include three in the Greater Toronto Area, have filed lawsuits seeking $4.5 billion in damages against Meta, Snapchat and TikTok for creating products that they allege interfere with student learning negligently and have caused “widespread disruption to the education system.”
Four separate statements of claim were filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice recently by the Toronto District School Board, the Peel District School Board, Ottawa Carleton District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
The suits allege that the social media heavyweights have “knowingly and/or negligently disrupted and fundamentally changed the school, learning, and teaching climate,” causing boards to suffer “substantial damages.”
According to the school boards, the damages include “a significant diversion and drain” on personnel and resources.
The statement of claims read: “The Defendants chose to maximize profits at the expense of student well-being and without due regard to the foreseeable harm and damage caused.”
In a news release, Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the director of education with the Toronto District School Board, said: “The influence of social media on today’s youth at school cannot be denied. It leads to pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges.
“It is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.”
The school boards are represented by Neinstein LLP, a law firm based in Toronto and the news release states that school boards “will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.”
In the news release, Duncan Embury, the head of litigation at Neinstein LLP, said: “A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgement and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve.
“We are proud to support our schools and students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”
