School Boards sue Social Media Giants for disrupting students’ fundamental right to education

BY PAUL JUNOR

There has been attention given to the lawsuit by four of the largest school boards in Ontario against several tech giants launched on March 28^th, 2024. The four school boards are: Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Peel District School Board (PDSB), Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). The tech giants include Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook and Instagram), Snap Inc (SnapChat), and ByteDance Ltd. (TikTok). The lawsuit claims that “Social media products negligently designed for compulsive use, have rewired the way children: think, behave and learn, leaving educators and schools to manage the fallout.”

Recent research that was presented from CAMH’s 2021 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) highlight data such as:

• Approximately 91% of Ontario students in grades 7-12 use social media daily
• 45% of these students use social media for five hours, or more a day
• 1 in 10 Ontario students report feelings of pervasive nervousness when not using their electronic devices, and that this discomfort is relieved by “use.”
• We are facing a youth mental health crisis with many reporting poor, or fair mental health (38%), and feeling as though they are in serious psychological distress (26%)
• One in five reports harming themselves and/or have seriously contemplated suicide

Additional findings from the 2021 Internal Instagram BEEF Survey results found that 21.8 % of Instagram users aged 13-15 stated they were the target of bullying over the product within the previous seven days.

Colleen Russell-Rawlins of TDSB states, “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. 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.”

Rashmi Swarup of PDSB states, “There has been growing concern for years about the effect of social media on students’: development, mental health, safety and emotional well-being. Urgent action is needed to protect students from further harm. That is why we have come together in bringing action against social media giants to make their products safer while addressing the disruptions they are causing to our educational mandate.”

Dr. Brendan Browne of TCDSB notes, “Fostering a nurturing environment of learning is critical to student success and stands at the heart of our educational mission. Yet, the intricately crafted and inherently addictive nature of social media platforms can hamper a students’ capacity to absorb knowledge. Social media has an undeniable toll on student mental health which cannot be overlooked. In the absence of effective measures from the architects of these digital platforms, our educators find themselves increasingly involved in mitigating social media-induced matters, diverting precious time away from academic instruction.”

Pino Buffone of the OCDSB states, “As the largest school board in Eastern Ontario, we are committed to the well-being of our students. The crisis caused by social media giants is putting children and youths at risk. Our students, society’s next generation of leaders, deserve better.”

Duncan Embury, Partner, Head of Litigation, states, “A strong education system is the foundation of our society. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgment and attention that they cause posed a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve. We are proud to support our students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”