Canada school boards file $4.5 billion case against Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta for 'deliberately' harming kids

Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta are facing a $4.5-billion lawsuit from four Ontario school boards. The school boards accuse these social media platforms of hurting students, interfering with their learning, and harming their mental health, leaving educators to “manage the fallout,” according to a local news report.

All four cases were separately filed by the public boards of Toronto, Peel, Ottawa, and the Toronto Catholic Board and are represented by Neinstein LLP. 

Why are the school boards suing Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta?

Social media apps are designed for compulsive use (and) have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn, say their statements of claim. The plaintiff's statement of claim also says that the social media companies have knowingly and negligently disrupted and fundamentally changed the school, learning, and teaching climate.

Colleen Russell-Rawlins, director of education at the Toronto District School Board, told the Toronto Star, "We're managing mental health challenges, loneliness and … discrimination — the slurs that we're seeing students use, some of that emanates from what's on social media."

"The defendants knew, or ought to have known, that their negligent conduct seriously and negatively impacts the student population by causing maladaptive brain development, compulsive use, disrupted sleep patterns, behavioural dysregulation, learning and attention impairment, and other serious issues that impact the school, learning, and teaching climate," the statements of claim reads.

Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta face lawsuits in the U.S

Over 500 school districts in the U.S. have launched similar cases now against these platforms. In January 2024, CEOs of Meta, TikTok, and X among other companies testified in a US court hearing. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee said, “They’re responsible for many of the dangers our children face online. Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk.”

On March 25, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans children under the age of 14 from social media platforms. The bill also requires children aged 14 and 15 to get parental consent for using social media platforms.