Seattle Public School is suing a number of social media networks and streaming apps, accusing them of corrupting the minds of young people for profit.
The lawsuit also stated that the series of applications being sued used psychological methods to damage the mental health of students. The apps in question are TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snap and Instagram, as well as their parent companies Alphabet, Meta and ByteDance.
The lawsuit by the public school bodies in the United States was registered at the United States District Court, Western District of Washington in Seattle, United States of America, as quoted by us from Phone Arena.
The platform being sued is accused of exploiting the psychology and neuropsychology of its users in order to spend more time on the platform. The technique was deemed effective but harmful to teenagers, and the defendants were accused of deliberately creating a mental health crisis in America's youth.
The mental health crisis was created as a result of the actions of the defendants in maximizing financial gain. "Their business model is based on advertising. The more time spent on the platform, the more advertisements the defendants can sell," as stated in the lawsuit.
In addition, the younger generation is considered the main target of the defendants in making profits. This is because teens are most likely to have cell phones, use social media, and have time to spend on social media platforms.
"Young people are particularly vulnerable to defendant manipulative acts because their brains are not yet fully developed, and they are usually emotionally immature, impulsive," added the Seattle Public School District.
One of the things touched upon in the lawsuit is the circulation of harmful content such as calls for a diet that limits calorie intake to 300 calories per day. In fact, according to the Seattle Public School District, the average man needs 2000-3000 calories per day and the average woman needs 1600-2000 calories per day.