Ann Arbor Public Schools will be joining districts across the country in a federal lawsuit alleging that numerous social media companies have prioritized engagement with their platforms over the safety of children and teens. All seven members of the AAPS Board of Education voted to join the litigation at its February 4 meeting.
The lawsuit alleges that social media companies are focusing on “time spent, not time well spent” and calls their behavior “an egregious breach of the public trust.”
Defendants include the companies that own TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.
The resolution passed by the board cites the U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health, which links social media platforms to mental health conditions like anxiety and depression and says the platforms can increase cyberbullying and addiction-like behaviors.
Board vice president Glynda Wilks said at the meeting she worries social media companies are specifically targeting students at school.
“I believe that based on the information that we received, I know that social media companies are really targeting our students during the school day when they really should be focused on learning,” Wilks said. “And I believe that these companies are actually targeting them at specific times, specifically during the school day, which is definitely unacceptable.”
The state Legislature has recently passed legislation requiring schools to come up with plans to restrict smartphones during the school day. By joining the lawsuit, president of the board Torchio Feaster said the district is more effectively addressing the root of the problem.
“The way I think that you really hit a company and get them to stop doing something is not to put the phone in the pouch, but it's to hit them in the pocketbook. And so if we're able to get these companies to realize that they should not be targeting our students and that, in fact, they'll have to pay monetary damages for it, then I think it's probably the best way to address the underlying issue,” he said.
“I mean, you can get over bad press. You can, you know, you've got marketing teams to do that. But when it hits your financial bottom line, that's when people take notice,” said board trustee Susan Baskett.
At least 12 other school districts across Michigan have also joined the lawsuit, including Dexter Community Schools and Detroit Public Schools. The state of Michigan and Oakland and Monroe Counties are also listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Feaster said the lawyers AAPS has been in contact with so far say the district will not pay any legal fees unless the lawsuit is successful.
We have reached out to Meta, Snap Inc. and ByteDance for comment.
