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U-46 joins other districts in social media lawsuit

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 unanimously approved, a resolution to join over 300 school districts across the country in a lawsuit against social media companies at its meeting on Monday, Sept. 11.
  The attorney-client fee contract states that 25 percent “of any monetary settlement or recovery” would go to Frantz Law Group, a California-based firm that is leading the lawsuit. The resolution states that “Franczek P.C. acting as local co-counsel for the District.”
  The social media companies listed in the resolution are “Meta Platforms, Inc. Facebook Holdings LLC, Snap Inc, TikTok Inc., Alphabet Inc. and other parties responsible.”
  The resolution states that “in recent years the proliferation of and widespread access to and use of social media among public school students has expanded dramatically, leading to significant risks of anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm, and suicidal ideation among students,” and U-46 students “have been part of this phenomenon by engaging with social media in school and on school grounds in addition to outside of school.”
  “The District’s students’ widespread adoption, consumption, and use of social media has caused the District to incur costs in the form of staff time, disciplinary proceedings, emotional and social counseling, medical services, and other costs, with the expectation that these costs will only increase unless and until student use of social media is reduced or the social media platforms reform their practices in attracting students,” the resolution adds.
  As previously reported by The Examiner, some legal experts have weighed in suggesting the lawsuit has little merit.
  Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, told The Associated Press: “The underlying argument is that the tech industry is to blame for the emotional state of teenagers, because they made recommendations on content that has caused emotional harm. It would be absurd to sue Barnes & Noble because an employee recommended a book that caused emotional harm or made a teenager feel bad. But that’s exactly what this lawsuit is doing.”