Students are suffering from a mental health crisis spurred by big tech, according to a lawsuit filed by the Seattle public school district.
It claims the school’s ability to educate has been impacted by the mental health crisis.
The lawsuit was filed against Alphabet, Meta, and ByteDance—the parent companies of Google; Facebook; and TikTok respectively.
The U.S. District Court heard the social media companies purposefully designed their platforms to lure younger people, and are behind a rising mental health crisis in the U.S.
Schools have reportedly been forced to take additional steps to train teachers, and work with students to alleviate their mental health concerns.
“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the lawsuit said.
In emailed statements to Reuters, Google said it has introduced “strong protections and dedicated features to prioritize their well being.”
The lawsuit seeks compensation for monetary damages and other penalties.
