Several schools in the city of Seattle have just filed a complaint against social networks.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other TikTok are accused of undermining the mental health of young people, and of imposing the cost of their care on society.
Platforms would be harmful to mental health
What is the impact of social networks on young brains? If more and more studies are looking into this problem, the complaint just filed by school officials in Seattle, in the northwest of the United States, could well be an opportunity to explore the issue further.
Educators thus accuse social networks of attacking ” social, emotional and mental health of young audiences. They would be responsible for the increase in suicides, suicide attempts and visits to the emergency room for mental problems.
They would exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users so that they spend more and more time on their platforms “, leading to mental health concerns.
The security hole is also social networks
And if this mode of operation is lucrative, “ because the more time users spend on these platforms, the more ads defendants can sell “, it would weigh financially on the company, which takes care of young patients. Social networks should thus put their hands in their pockets and pay compensation.
” Taxpayers shouldn’t bear the burden of the mental health crisis social media companies have created “, defend the complainants in their press release. They ensure that they are in line with the speech on the Union of 2022 delivered by Joe Biden in which he asked ” to hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they conduct on our children for profit “.
All the major players in the field are named in the complaint. The social networks of Meta, Instagram and Facebook, Snapchat, Google, its parent company Alphabet, YouTube, Bytedance as well as its subsidiary TikTok.
Source : The echoes
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