Saying they believe social media preys on vulnerable young people, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 officials are getting ready to sue Facebook, Meta, Inc., Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and perhaps others in federal court.
The District 60 Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution Thursday at the Lincoln Center Administration Building in Waukegan authorizing district officials to retain The Frantz Law Group to represent it against certain social media companies.
Joining hundreds of other school districts across the nation, district officials said they will seek to hold social media companies, many of which are household names, accountable for the way their operations and advertising target youth.
“We know the harmful effects social media has had; we witness them every day,” District 60 Board President Brandon Ewing said at the meeting. “We know how (their) marketing influences the students, yet they continue to do it as a way to make money.”
Joseph Clary, the district’s deputy general counsel, said in an email Friday these social media companies designed their software to “promote a psychologically addictive response like a slot machine.”
They “targeted and continue to target their apps to kids, adolescents and young adults and were aware that their apps could have gravely harmful impacts on developing brains, academic progress, socialization, physical activity and social-emotional health,” he said.
Now among hundreds of school districts filing similar suits, Clary said District 60′s case will be filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California as part of multi-district legislation consolidated in the San Francisco-based court in February.
Clary said in the email that multi-district lawsuits involve multiple cases with common “questions of fact” transferred to a specific federal court to proceed toward a resolution.
In the resolution the district approved authorizing the lawsuit, the board also appointed Chicago-based Franczek, P.C., as local counsel to work with the Frantz firm.
During the meeting, Ewing said he recognizes the benefits of social media as a resource and tool in the 21st century for adults and youth alike. He also said he recognizes its dangers and looks forward to this lawsuit helping to ease the negative impact.
“I would appreciate it if we do find a way to hold (social media) companies accountable because while it is a great tool and a great resource, we do understand the impact social media has on the adult mind but definitely on the adolescent minds,” Ewing said.
Efforts to hold social media companies accountable for posts made by users have had limited success. Ewing posited lawsuits which will cost these businesses money may make a difference.
“Compensation could be the thing that gets their attention,” Ewing said. “It worked for tobacco.”
Board member Christine Lensing said she supports the litigation in part because a young person can unknowingly make unwise decisions online after being fooled by an adult.
“We also know (social media) is an access point for groomers to come in and connect with your students and to identify with them and build a relationship with them,” Lensing said. “Then, later the worst things a parent could think of may happen.”
Among the potential risks which can arise from widespread and unsupervised access to social media among public school students are “significant risks of anxiety, depression, thoughts of self harm, suicidal ideation and negative impacts on academic performance,” according to the resolution.
Multi-district litigation like the lawsuit District 60 is about to enter is not new in Waukegan. The district settled a similar case with JUUL Labs, Inc., along with approximately 1,400 others nationwide including 42 in Illinois and three others in Lake County.
