Martin County school board files suit against social media companies

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

PIKEVILLE – The Martin County Board of Education filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and other online social media platforms.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Pikeville, claims the social media giants helped to create a mental health crisis among youth through its various content, which includes “encouragement of poor eating habits, self-harm, and poor mental health.”

“When students experience mental health problems, like anxiety and depression, they perform worse in school, are less likely to attend school, are more likely to engage in substance use and abuse, are more likely to act out, and are more likely to need additional resources like counseling or medical care,” the lawsuit says. “Not only does this make it harder for Martin County Public Schools to provide their students with a proper education and healthy environment, it can actually lead to decreased funding for the school given a decreased number of students.”

The 87-page complaint says that the second leading cause of death among students in middle and high school in the U. S. is suicide and that the Martin County School District has not “sat idly by in the face of this crisis.”

“In addition to providing mental health services to its students, Martin County Public Schools are having to monitor and address issues that arise on social media platforms,” the suit says. “However, despite Plaintiff’s best efforts, the mental health crisis persists, and the budget is not adequate to take the steps needed to fully address this crisis. Plaintiff needs significantly more funding than it has to implement potentially lifesaving programs in the face of this ever-increasing mental health crisis that the Defendants helped create.”

The suit says millions of youth have become excessive and problematic users of social media, and that research has confirmed the harmful effects of social media on youth.

“As a result, America’s youth are facing a mental health crisis,” the suit says.

The defendants intentionally marker to, design and operate their social media platforms for young users, the suit says.

“Defendants view youth, adolescent, and even pre-adolescent users as one of their most valuable commodities as an audience for their advertisements,” the complaint says. “Young users are central to Defendants’ business model and advertising revenue as children are more likely than adults to use social media. Indeed, 95 percent of children ages 13–17 have cellphones, 90 percent use social media, and 28 percent buy products and services through social media.”

The Martin County School District, which serves more than 1,700 students and has five schools, has been “directly impacted by the mental health crisis among youth in its community,” the suit says.

“There has been a surge in the proportion of youth in Plaintiff’s community who say they cannot stop or control their anxiety, who feel so sad and hopeless that they stop doing the activities that they used to love, who are considering suicide, who made plans to commit suicide, and who have attempted to commit suicide,” the suit says.

To address the “decline in students’ mental, emotional, and social health,” the district has been “forced to divert resources and expend additional resources to hire and train additional personnel; develop additional resources; develop lesson plans to teach students about the dangers of using the defendants’ platforms; and update its student handbook and school policies to address the use of the platforms, the suit says.

In addition, more students have been acting out as a result of the “decline Defendants caused” in students’ health, forcing the school district to spend money to repair property damaged as a result of the “exploitive and harmful content Defendants directed to students,” the suit says.

Among other things, the district has also had to increase disciplinary services and time spent addressing bullying, harassment and threats; and investigate and respond to threats made against schools and students over social media, the suit says.

“Employees and patrons, including students, of Martin County Public Schools have a right to be free from conduct that endangers their health and safety,” the suit says. “Yet Defendants have engaged in conduct which endangers or injures the health and safety of the employees and students of Martin County Public Schools by designing, marketing, and operating their respective social media platforms for use by students in Martin County Public Schools and in a manner that substantially interferes with the functions and operations of Martin County Public Schools and impacts the public health, safety, and welfare of the Martin County Public Schools community.”

Defendants include Facebook, Instagram, Snap, TikTok, YouTube, Bytedance, Alphabet and Google.

The suit, filed on the board’s behalf by Louisville attorney Ronald F. Johnson Jr., seeks an order that the conduct by the defendants constitutes a public nuisance and enjoining the defendants from engaging in further actions causing or contributing to the public nuisance.

The complaint also seeks “equitable relief to fund preventive education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media” and compensatory and statutory damages.