The Great Neck and Herricks school districts are suing Facebook and other social media platforms, alleging they harm students’ mental health due to their platflorms’ addictive qualities.
The lawsuit alleges that the social media platforms are “addictive and dangerous” and have caused school districts “serious financial and resource disruptions,” according to Newsday.
The money sought in the lawsuit would be to offset costs for additional mental health professionals to adapt lesson plans about social media harms and to investigate online threats, according to Newsday.
Newsday initially reported a group of 11 Long Island school districts joining the suit on Saturday, which include Great Neck. Herricks announced at its meeting Monday morning they, too, would be joining.
The two school districts are joining about 1,000 other districts locally and nationwide in the suit. Newsday reported that more than two dozen more Long Island school districts also plan to join.
The other Long Island School districts are Brentwood, Bellmore-Merrick, East Islip, Islip, Jericho, Kings Park, North Merrick, Port Jefferson, South Huntington and Westbury, according to Newsday.
Herricks Superintendent Tony Sinanis said the board opted to join as a plaintiff in the lawsuit after the law firm Frantz Law Group, APLC and Ingerman Smith, LLP, which is leading the lawsuit, reached out.
Frantz Law Group is spearheading the nationwide lawsuit against Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and other social media companies.
Efforts to solicit comment from the Great Neck Public Schools were unavailing.
The lawsuit alleges that social media companies have caused a rise in mental health issues in students, such as anxiety, depression and thoughts of self harm. These effects then adversely affect their success in school.
The school districts have filed individual complaints as part of a consolidated multidistrict federal lawsuit with parents and state governments as well. The suits were filed in California federal court.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a similar suit in October 2023, alongside 32 other states.
The effects of social media on adolescents have been in the public eye over the past year.
About three weeks ago, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for Congress to implement a social media warning comparable to those on cigarette packaging.
In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on the correlation between social media and youth mental health.
According to the U.S. surgeon general, up to 95% of adolescents ages 13–17 reported using a social media platform. More than a third said they use social media “almost constantly.”
The U.S. surgeon general wrote in the advisory that research indicates “a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” He said that additional research is still needed to determine if it is safe for them.
Recommendations by the U.S. surgeon general include developing age-appropriate health and safety standards, a higher standard of data privacy for children and adolescents, policies that limit their usage and call for social media companies to share health impact data.
Frantz Law Group also led the class action lawsuit for schools against JUUL Labs, a popular e-cigarette brand, which resulted in a $1.2 billion settlement.
