SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 Like the tobacco, oil, gun, opioid and vaping industries before them, the big U.S. social media companies are now facing lawsuits brought by public entities that seek to hold them accountable for a huge societal problem \u2014 in their case, the mental health crisis among youth.
\nBut the new lawsuits \u2014 one by the public school district in Seattle last week, with a second filed by a suburban district Monday and almost certainly more to come \u2014 face an uncertain legal road.
\nThe U.S. Supreme Court is\u00a0scheduled to hear arguments next month\u00a0over the extent to which federal law protects the tech industry from such claims when social media algorithms push potentially harmful content.
\nEven if the high court were to clear the way for lawsuits like Seattle\u2019s, the district has a daunting challenge in proving the industry\u2019s liability.
\nAnd the tech industry insists there are many ways social media\u2019s effects on teen mental health differ from, say, big pharma\u2019s role in pushing opioid addiction.
\n\u201cThe underlying argument is that the tech industry is to blame for the emotional state of teenagers, because they made recommendations on content that has caused emotional harm,\u201d said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of the tech industry trade association NetChoice. \u201cIt would be absurd to sue Barnes & Noble because an employee recommended a book that caused emotional harm or made a teenager feel bad. But that\u2019s exactly what this lawsuit is doing.\u201d
\nSeattle Public Schools on Friday\u00a0sued the tech giants\u00a0behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, alleging they have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children. The Kent School District south of Seattle followed suit Monday.
\nThe districts blame the companies for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media and providing additional training to teachers.
\n\u201cOur students \u2014 and young people everywhere \u2014 face unprecedented learning and life struggles that are amplified by the negative impacts of increased screen time, unfiltered content, and potentially addictive properties of social media,\u201d Seattle Superintendent Brent Jones said in an emailed statement Tuesday. \u201cWe are confident and hopeful that this lawsuit is a significant step toward reversing this trend for our students.\u201d
\nFederal law \u2014 Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 \u2014 helps protect online companies from liability arising from what third-party users post on their platforms. But the lawsuits argue the provision, which predates all the social media platforms, does not protect the tech giants\u2019 behavior in this case, where their own algorithms promote harmful content.
\nThat\u2019s also the issue in Gonzalez v. Google, the parent company of YouTube, set for argument at the Supreme Court on Feb. 21. In that case, the family of an American woman killed in an Islamic State group attack in Paris in 2015 alleges YouTube\u2019s algorithms aided the terror group\u2019s recruitment.<\/p>\n