A Maryland school district is suing Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok owner ByteDance for allegedly contributing to a \u201cmental health crisis\u201d among students. A lawsuit filed by<\/a> the Howard County Public School System on Thursday claims the social networks operated by these companies are \u201caddictive and dangerous\u201d products that have \u201crewired\u201d the way kids \u201cthink, feel, and behave.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The lawsuit cites a laundry list of issues on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok that it accuses of harming kids. That includes the (allegedly) addictive \u201cdopamine-triggering rewards\u201d on each app, such as TikTok\u2019s For You page<\/a>, which leverages data about user activity to provide an endless stream of suggested content. It also mentions Facebook and Instagram\u2019s recommendation algorithms and \u201cfeatures that are designed to create harmful loops of repetitive and excessive product usage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Additionally, the school district accuses each platform of encouraging \u201cunhealthy, negative social comparisons, which in turn cause body image issues and related mental and physical disorders\u201d in kids. Other parts of the lawsuit address \u201cdefective\u201d parental controls in each app, along with safety gaps it alleges promote child sexual exploitation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOver the past decade, Defendants have relentlessly pursued a strategy of growth-at-all costs, recklessly ignoring the impact of their products on children\u2019s mental and physical health,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cIn a race to corner the \u2018valuable but untapped\u2019 market of tween and teen users, each Defendant designed product features to promote repetitive, uncontrollable use by kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Howard County Public School System is far from the only school district that has decided to take legal action against social media companies as of late. In addition to two<\/a> other school<\/a> districts in Maryland, school systems in Washington state<\/a>, Florida<\/a>, California<\/a>, Pennsylvania<\/a>, New Jersey<\/a>, Alabama<\/a>, Tennessee<\/a>, and others have filed similar lawsuits over the negative effects that social media has had on the mental health of kids. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve invested in technology that finds and removes content related to suicide, self-injury or eating disorders before anyone reports it to us,\u201d Antigone Davis, Meta\u2019s head of safety, says in an emailed statement to The Verge<\/em>. \u201cThese are complex issues, but we will continue working with parents, experts and regulators such as the state attorneys general to develop new tools, features and policies that meet the needs of teens and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Google denies the allegations outlined in the lawsuit, with company spokesperson Jos\u00e9 Casta\u00f1eda saying in a statement to The Verge<\/em>, \u201cIn collaboration with child development specialists, we have built age-appropriate experiences for kids and families on YouTube, and provide parents with robust controls.\u201d Meanwhile, Snap spokesperson Pete Boogaard says that the company \u201cvet[s] all content before it can reach a large audience, which helps protect against the promotion and discovery of potentially harmful material.\u201d ByteDance didn\u2019t immediately respond to The Verge<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Critics have drawn attention to social media\u2019s potential impact on children and teenagers, particularly after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen<\/a> came forward with a trove of internal documents that indicated Meta<\/a> knew about the potential harm Instagram had on some young users<\/a>. Last week, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a public advisory that calls social media<\/a> a \u201cprofound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some states have responded to the safety issues posed by social media by enacting laws that prevent kids from signing up for social media sites. While Utah will bar children under the age of 18 from using social media<\/a> without parental consent starting next year, Arkansas has passed similar legislation preventing underage kids<\/a> from signing up for social networks. At the same time, a flurry of national online safety laws<\/a>, some of which could implement some sort of online age verification system, has made their way to Congress despite warnings from civil liberties and privacy advocates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n