MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) and Collierville Schools are joining more than 30 school districts across Tennessee suing several social media companies, including Facebook, TikTok and Google, over students' safety online and mental health.
The Frantz Law Group and Lewis Thomason Law, representing 33 school districts in Tennessee in the lawsuit, announced Tuesday they are pursuing legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Google, seeking protections for students across their platforms.
The group claims the social media companies offer no protections for teens and youth on their platforms, impacting their mental health.
“The concern about the lack of proper protections and the negative impacts on children who use social media is clearly an important issue for school systems across the state,” Lewis Thomason attorney Chris McCarty said. “Hundreds of thousands of students are represented by these school systems, which amplifies the demands to social media giants.”
MSCS and Collierville Schools are two confirmed participants from the Memphis area, with the majority of school systems involved in Middle and East Tennessee, including public school systems in Nashville and Knoxville.
We've reached out to both MSCS and Collierville Schools for comment. MSCS said it would not comment on pending litigation.
Facebook's legal battles
Dozens of US states, including California and New York, sued Meta Platforms Inc. in October, 2023, for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.
A lawsuit filed by 33 states in federal court in California, claims that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law. In addition, nine attorneys general are filing lawsuits in their respective states, bringing the total number of states taking action to 41 and Washington, D.C.
“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its social media platforms,” the complaint says. “It has concealed the ways in which these platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.”
In a blog post in January, Meta said they are changing the ways teens interact with their platforms.
While it already aims not to recommend such “age-inappropriate” material to teens, now it also won't show it in their feeds, even if it is shared by an account they follow.
Teen users — provided they did not lie about their age when they signed up for Instagram or Facebook — will also see their accounts placed on the most restrictive settings on the platforms, and they will be blocked from searching for terms that might be harmful.
Critics said Meta's moves don't go far enough.
“Today’s announcement by Meta is yet another desperate attempt to avoid regulation and an incredible slap in the face to parents who have lost their kids to online harms on Instagram,” said Josh Golin, executive director of the children's online advocacy group Fairplay. “If the company is capable of hiding pro-suicide and eating disorder content, why have they waited until 2024 to announce these changes?”