TikTok, Meta & Snapchat hit with $4.5bn lawsuit from Canada schools

Four schools in Ontario, Canada, have filed a lawsuit against TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat, claiming that their social media platforms “disrupt the education system.”

When it comes to popular social media platforms, TikTok, Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, as well as Snapchat, are by far used the most by school-aged kids.

Four Canadian school boards have recognized this, and allege that the websites have disrupted student learning as well as the education system as a whole.

So, they’ve banded together to file a $4.5bn lawsuit against the media giants claiming that they are negligently designed for compulsive use.

“[The websites] have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn, leaving educators and schools to manage the fallout,” it reads.

One school board in the lawsuit is the Toronto District School Board, whose Director of Education made a statement regarding the situation.

“It leads to pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” said Colleen Russell-Rawlins.

“Therefore, 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.”

This comes just days after the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would require TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the short-form video platform to a non-Chinese company — or face a ban in the country.