More Canadian schools are blaming social media platforms for pushing educators and already-thin resources to the brim.
What happened: Five Ontario school boards and two private schools are suing the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok for $2.6 billion, alleging their platforms are intentionally addictive and harming students’ mental health and learning capacity.
- Four of Canada’s biggest school boards filed similar lawsuits in March, seeking $4.5 billion, while cases from about 500 school boards are currently playing out in the U.S.
Why it matters: The lawsuits are part of a broader crackdown on young people’s excessive scrolling. Ontario just issued a strict cellphone ban in schools, B.C. is rolling out similar restrictions in the fall, and Québec is now weighing a social media ban for kids under 16.
- In the U.S., Florida passed legislation banning anyone under 14 from having a social media account, a law that’s seen as one of the most restrictive bans ever issued.
Big picture: With 91% of Canadian students in Grades 7 to 12 checking in on social media daily, and about a third spending five or more hours on it every day, behavioural problems and a general inability to focus are popping up in and out of the classroom.—LA