On March 20, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) filed litigation against major social media companies for their alleged role in fueling a youth mental health crisis and disrupting the educational environment for LA students.
The district joins hundreds of school districts, cities, counties and state attorneys general across the country pursuing legal action to hold social media companies accountable for the harm their platforms have inflicted on children.
As detailed in the complaint, LAUSD educators, counselors and administrators are confronting unprecedented levels of student anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, self-harm, suicidal ideation, disordered eating, cyberbullying, sextortion and excessive exposure to extreme and exploitative content, much of which is amplified and monetized by social media design features.
Research underscores the scale of the problem presented by the platforms’ ineffective age verification, warnings, parental controls and reporting of child sexual abuse material. Findings presented by the Social Media Spread of Hate (SMASH) Project – a collaboration between the Organization for Social Media Safety and the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies – revealed that among more than 14,000 students surveyed nationwide:
● 53% reported using social media more than five hours per day, with 20% reporting nine hours or more;
● 46% reported being victims of cyberbullying;
● 81% reported exposure to hate speech, often related to race, gender or religion;
● Students also reported exposure to drug-related content, eating disorder content and sextortion schemes linked to self-harm and suicide.
In June 2024, in an effort to address these problems, the LAUSD Board of Education adopted a resolution restricting student cellphone and social media use during the school day, citing research linking excessive use to increased stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, aggression and suicidal ideation.
The district’s lawsuit aligns with broader legal efforts in California and nationwide to address what many officials have described as a youth mental health emergency tied to defendants’ social media features, misrepresentations about the safety and failures to warn about the dangers of their platforms for youth.