Trillium Lakelands District School Board joins lawsuit against tech giants Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat

Local students have mixed feelings about imminent ban on phones in the classroom

In an email sent today to parents and guardians, Wes Hahn, director of education at Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB), announced that it has joined the lawsuit against tech giants Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat for disrupting the education system and student learning.

“We, alongside other Ontario schools and boards, allege that these companies have negligently designed and marketed addictive products that have disrupted our educational mandate and obligation to enhance student achievement and well-being,” says Hahn.

The lawsuit was initially filed in March by the public district school boards of Toronto, Peel, Ottawa-Carlton, and Toronto’s Catholic School Board. Now more schools and boards are joining. One might even say the suit is trending.

Neinstein LLP, a Toronto based law firm, is representing the school boards in the lawsuit. “The suit seeks roughly $4.5 billion in total damages from Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., which operate the platforms Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok respectively,” says CBC in an article published earlier today.

Students may feel reluctant to accept this lawsuit and the effects it may have on their ability to use devices and social media in school.

“I think it could be a good thing and bad thing. Kids have become so attached to their phones and will spend hours scrolling on social media apps and it’s causing them to have less in person social interaction,” says Taylor Spry, a former local high school student in Kawartha Lakes.

“It is also a big part of students social lives today. Using TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are how most students today interact with their peers, and without it they could feel more isolated,” she added.

Since children have access to their phones not only in school but outside of school this lawsuit was filed to urge these tech giants to make their platforms safer for the children using them. “Restricting the use of devices in schools is just one action, but as we know, compulsive social media use outside the classroom will continue to permeate the education system and impact student learning unless change is made by the social media companies,” says Hahn.

Along with this lawsuit set in place, the Ontario government is planning on banning phones in schools starting this September. This is to help reduce distraction within the classroom.

But one I.E. Weldon student doesn’t think it’s going to work.

“I think the banning of personal technology and social media in schools will only force students to develop sneakier methods of accessing the same content,” says Braiden Howes, a Grade 12 student at the Lindsay high school.

Hahn goes on to say that because of social media use educators are spending more time in the classroom working with students to resolve issues caused by social media and that social media use has changed the way children think. “As parents…many of you know firsthand the impact that social media products have had on students. In fact, it’s rewiring the way they think, act, behave, and learn.”