Anne Arundel County Public Schools sues social media companies

By David Collins

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    GLEN BURNIE, Maryland (WBAL) — The Anne Arundel County Public Schools system is suing four of the biggest social media companies, alleging they have rewired how youths think, feel and behave.

The district is the eighth Maryland school system going after social media companies with a lawsuit that alleges Meta, Google, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok are fueling an unprecedented mental health crisis among young people.

The lawsuit’s claims allege companies learn the preferences of young users and repeatedly expose them to risks.

“As a result of the addictive nature of these algorithms and platforms, children are spending too much time on their cellphones,” said Phil Frederico, an attorney for the school system. “Certainly, the content is problematic as well, but it’s really these platforms and really these algorithms that are getting them to stay on their phones, repeatedly interrupting their time at school.”

The lawsuit cites data from a variety of sources indicating that a third of 13-to-17-year-olds report using social media apps almost constantly and would struggle to cut back. The lawsuit’s data shows suicide rates are up 57%, emergency room visits for anxiety are up 117% and there’s a 40% increase in high school students reporting persistent sadness and hopelessness.

“We want to get the companies to respect children and treat them the way they should be treated and not as a profit center. So, we want to get them to change their algorithms, change their platforms so that we don’t have a problem in the future,” Frederico said.

Some said parents should do a better job policing social media use.

“I think parents should be the people that are holding their children (accountable), not a society, not a government, none of them,” said Pam Smith, a parent.

“Just pay attention to what your children are doing, just know their whereabouts and just keep in contact with them,” said Tanya White, an Anne Arundel County resident.

“I don’t know if there is anything can be done. I mean, now that social media is part of our present day, I don’t know if there is any real way of stopping or changing that,” said Clarence Joseph, an Anne Arundel County resident.

WBAL-TV 11 News reached out to all the social media companies named in the lawsuit. Meta, which runs Facebook and Instagram, sent a statement to 11 News, saying, in part: “Reports from the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and others point to growing academic pressure, concerns of safety in schools, the lingering impact of the pandemic and limited access to mental health care as key factors. We want to work with schools and academic experts to better understand these issues and how social media can provide teens with support when they need.”

A Snapchat representative sent a statement to 11 News after this report aired, saying: “Snapchat was designed differently from other social media platforms because nothing is more important to us than the well-being of our community. Our app opens directly to a camera rather than a feed of content that encourages passive scrolling and is primarily used to help real friends communicate. We aren’t an app that encourages perfection or popularity, and we vet all content before it can reach a large audience, which helps protect against the promotion and discovery of potentially harmful material. While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping friends feel connected, informed, happy, and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence.”

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court, also seeks an opportunity for the school district to recoup lost finances from diverting money and resources to address student mental health issues.

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