PBC schools are likely to join lawsuit against Meta, parent company of Facebook, Instagram

Palm Beach County's school district is among more than a dozen in Florida and 650 across the country that intend to sue Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and other social media giants for what they say was a systematic targeting of children with products designed to become addictive.

On Wednesday, Dec. 13, the school board voted to hire four law firms to evaluate whether a civil lawsuit against major social media companies could succeed. Other school districts have already filed suit.

The firms that will represent the district are Kansas City-based Wagstaff & Cartmell, Altanta-based firm Beasley Allen, Kansas-based firm Goza & Honnold, and The Maher Law Firm, based in Winter Park.

The algorithms that keep social media feeds running have "created a youth mental health crisis, body image issues and caused physical damage to district schools as a result of pranks and stunts," Palm Beach County said in its contract with the law firms.

In addition to Meta, social media companies Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and Google are likely to be named in the suit.

If the district were to sue and win, the law firms will be paid one-third of what the district receives. The four firms would divide their share equally, according to the contract. If the district doesn't win, it won't owe the law firms anything.

Law firm Beasley Allen is representing several school districts in similar actions against social media companies, and outlines its argument for social media's addictive nature on its website:

"Platforms like Facebook and Instagram use email, text, and push notifications to inform users when they receive 'likes' or 'mentions.' According to a Harvard University study, when someone posts on social media and receives positive feedback, the brain releases dopamine, the body’s 'feel-good' hormone, rewarding the behavior," its website on the suit says.

Continuing use of social media "worsens moods and eventually interferes with relationships and work or school tasks. This encourages users to engage more with social media in search of relief, creating a vicious cycle that fosters a dependency on and addiction to social media," its site says.

As social media use has grown exponentially, researchers have attempted to keep up with tracking the impacts on users. This year, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory about the harmful effects of social media that said up to 95% of kids between the ages of 13 and 17 report using some type of social media, and more than one third said they use social media "almost constantly."

The surgeon general's report said bullying, unrealistic beauty standards, harassment and exposure to eating disorders, self-harm and suicide run rampant and often unchecked on social platforms.

Two of the law firms expected to represent the school district, Wagstaff & Cartmell and The Maher Law firm, represented Palm Beach County schools when the district joined a national lawsuit against e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. in 2019. The district is expected to receive $10 million over the next ten years as a result of a settlement in that suit.

The other two law firms, Beasley Allen and Goza & Honnold, are representing school districts in Alabama, Rhode Island, Colorado and other states in similar social media lawsuits. Attorneys general in more than three dozen states, including Florida, have filed suit against Meta for its alleged harmful practices.

“Meta has gone unchecked for too long, and our children are suffering the consequences of these unlawful practices,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody declared when the state entered the legal fray in October.

Many social media sites are banned on school district Wi-Fi and devices

Palm Beach County students already cannot access Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) or Youtube on district devices or Wi-Fi networks. This school year, the school district added TikTok to that "no-fly list."

That's because a new law that bans the short video-sharing application on all state-owned devices went into effect July 1. The law also prohibits districts from using the app to promote school activities.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the ban into law in May, saying he wanted to “make it very clear we don’t want the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party) in the Sunshine State.”

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TikTok has more than 150 million users in the U.S. and is owned by Beijing-based technology company ByteDance. DeSantis and other governmental leaders worry that the Chinese government will force the company to turn over American users' data, an incursion into privacy that Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in March has never occurred and will not happen in the future.

TikTok has also been problematic for school leaders because certain viral TikTok challenges have led to students vandalizing school property by destroying campus bathrooms, stealing soap dispensers and fire extinguishers, or damaging school computers and other property. Threats of mass violence and shootings at schools have also spread on the site.

The school district has signaled it's likely to argue that these incidents have caused the school district to lose money by repairing campuses facilities and tracking down threats.

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work. Subscribe today!

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County schools may join lawsuit against Meta, others