A Seattle public school district sued social media giants, including TikTok, Snap, Meta and YouTube, for allegedly wreaking a mental health crisis among its student body Friday.
The lawsuit said that the companies' algorithms were recommending pro-eating disorder content.
The district was seeking punitive damages and for the tech companies to stop causing a public nuisance. Though the tech giants are not liable for what is published by its users, the lawsuit takes aim at the recommendations and the content promoted through the algorithm.
"Plaintiff is not alleging Defendants are liable for what third-parties have said on Defendants’ platforms but, rather, for Defendants’ own conduct," the lawsuit said. "Defendants affirmatively recommend and promote harmful content to youth, such as pro-anorexia and eating disorder content."
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The lawsuit also said that mental health issues – such as anxiety and depression – have ballooned from 2009-2019 by 30%.
Students in Seattle Public Schools students who reported feeling "so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row" that they stopped doing some typical activities.
Fox News Digital reached out to the defendant companies for comment.
Snap, inc., the parent company of Snapchat, said, "While we can’t comment on the specifics of active litigation, nothing is more important to us than the wellbeing of our community"
"Snapchat was designed to help people communicate with their real friends, without some of the public pressure and social comparison features of traditional social media platforms, and intentionally makes it hard for strangers to contact young people," the spokesperson continued. "We also work closely with many mental health organizations to provide in-app tools and resources for Snapchatters as part of our ongoing work to keep our community safe. We will continue working to make sure our platform is safe and to give Snapchatters dealing with mental health issues resources to help them deal with the challenges facing young people today."
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Google provided a statement to ABC, which said, "We have invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across our platforms and have introduced strong protections and dedicated features to prioritize their well being."
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TikTok has been flagged for its potential national security concerns. In December, the House ordered the immediate removal of social networking app TikTok from its devices, according to an email obtained by Fox News.
In the email, House Chief Administrative Office Catherine L. Szpindor wrote to staff members and lawmakers informing them that TikTok is banned "from all House managed devices." The email says the policy goes into effect "beginning immediately."
This message comes after Congress included a bill to ban TikTok from executive branch government devices in the 4,000-plus page omnibus package passed last week.
Fox News' Jeffrey Clark, Tyler Olsen and Brianna Herlihy.
