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Some Seattle students are calling out their district for suing social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat.

Families suing social media companies Suing Social Media: Families say social media algorithms put their kids in danger | 60 Minutes 13:29 The largest school district in Washington state is suing several major social media companies for creating apps that it says exploit children and contribute to a "youth mental health crisis." Seattle Public Schools filed a lawsuit against Facebook, Instagram and their parent company Meta as well as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and others for their roles in the allegations.The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Friday, alleges that the rapid growth platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok have seen is a result of designs and operations that "exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users.""Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants' social media platforms," the complaint says, adding that their "misconduct has been a substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis." In statements to CBS News, companies defended their practices and said teen safety and well-being were important.As stated in its complaint, the school district claims

DEL REY — On Friday, January 6, 2023, a resident of the Del Rey neighborhood of Los Angeles, Mark David Wallin, 42, pleaded guilty to the federal criminal charges of one count of production of child pornography and one count of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, the U.S. Department of Justice released in a statement. Wallin has been in custody since his arrest in July 2022.  According to the Department of Justice statement, from 2019 to August 2021, Wallin used the internet, specifically the multimedia instant messaging app Snapchat, to meet preteen boys and girls, both abroad and in the United States, in order to develop virtual romantic relationships with them. Wallin did this with the intent to collect sexually explicit images and videos of them; he also persuaded his victims to engage in sexually explicit conduct via video-chat, so that he could take screen shot images and videos of them, according to court documents. After his victims sent him sexually explicit content, Wallin would demand more sexual images and videos from them.  In February and March of 2020, Wallin lured a victim, approximately 9 or 10 years old at the time, into engaging in

Seattle’s public schools district has filed a lawsuit in the US against multiple major social media companies, accusing them of harming young people’s mental health across the country.The lawsuit which was filed on Friday with a US district court accused the social media companies behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube of creating a “mental health crisis among America’s youth”.“Defendants’ growth is a product of choices they made to design and operate their platforms in ways that exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users into spending more and more time on their platforms. These techniques are both particularly effective and harmful to the youth audience,” the 91-page lawsuit said.“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” it added, citing harmful content including extreme diet plans and encouragements of self-harm.The lawsuit went on to attribute the companies’ alleged misconduct to the rising rates of anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm and suicide ideation experienced among young people.According to the lawsuit, from 2009 to 2019, there was on average a 30% increase in the number of students at

SPS filed a lawsuit against social media companies claiming they contributed to youth mental health crisis which in turn is straining the school district SEATTLE — Seattle Public Schools, the largest school district in the state, is suing major social media companies behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat over their impact on youth mental health. Attorneys said Seattle Public Schools (SPS)  may be the first district in the country to sue social media companies. The 92-page lawsuit claims the social media giants violated Washington’s public nuisance law and intentionally contributed to the youth mental health crisis in the state. More than 16 million daily TikTok users are under the age of 14. That's just one statistic laid out in a lawsuit SPS hit social media giants like Meta, Snapchat, and YouTube with Friday. The school district is represented by Keller Rohrback, a Seattle-based firm that routinely litigates against the most prominent corporate defendants on behalf of school districts and local governments. The lawsuit alleges that social media companies have intentionally contributed to the youth mental health crisis. “Now you can actually put a number on whether you're popular or not, how many likes you have versus how many likes

SEATTLE (AP) — The public school district in Seattle has filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth.Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children.It blames them 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.“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the complaint said. “Worse, the content Defendants curate and direct to youth is too often harmful and exploitive ....”Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.While federal law — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — helps protect online companies from liability arising from what

SEATTLE (AP) — The public school district in Seattle has filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth.Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children.It blames them 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. “Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the complaint said. “Worse, the content Defendants curate and direct to youth is too often harmful and exploitive ....”Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.While federal law — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — helps protect online companies from liability arising from

Mounties in Metro Vancouver have issued a warning about a recent increase in “sextortion,” saying police have received a “large number” of reports of money-motivated extortion targeting young girls and boys. The statement issued by Coquitlam RCMP follows similar warnings from police departments in other provinces in recent months, including in Alberta and Ontario. Stephen Sauer, the director of Cybertip.ca, a tip line operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, says the online sextortion of children is on the rise as criminals take advantage of pandemic-driven increases in the amount of time kids are spending online. He says there’s also a “double-silencing effect” among victims, who often don’t tell anyone about the extortion because they’ve been convinced to share sexual images and are afraid of getting into trouble. The victims are pulled “deeper and deeper” into the extortion, he says, as the criminals continue harassing them, threatening to publicly share the personal images as they try to extract as much money as they can. Sauer says his organization typically receives 200 or more sextortion tips each month, a number that’s been on the rise, particularly with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as children spent more time online for

In a return to the old normal, Snap Camera, which added filters to Zoom calls, is going away. Users might remember the Snap Camera feature from early lockdown hits such as “Lawyer Turned Into a Kitten” and “Potato Employee.” Snap’s filter app actually came out back in 2018, but in the spring of 2020 when many workers were using Zoom all day — some for the first time — the app really began to shine. However, Snap Camera will shut down later this month, according to parent company Snap. Not only will users no longer be able to download the filter app, but it won’t be usable on any computers on which it is currently installed anymore, either. It’s not wholly unsurprising as the remote work conversation moves from virtual meeting etiquette to questions of when, how, and how often workers will be asked to go back to the office. Apps like Zoom and Google Meet have also added more extensive built-in filters that don’t require a separate app like Snap Camera. Even still, as the novelty of lockdown wore off, very likley did the charm of “fun” filters. Users who have continued to use the Snap Camera app, whether

The Snap Camera is being discontinued, which means no more fun filters and Lenses for your video calls and meetings going forward. Despite its early rise in popularity, Snapchat hasn't really managed to hold an edge over its competitors for quite some time. Despite this, it has managed to deliver new features for its audience, and has even bolstered its creator tools, allowing the app to grow slowly over the past few years. Perhaps one of its best and most well known features its filters, allowing users to get creative with new looks and have fun with some outrageous ones. Snap Camera managed to bring these wonderful filters to PC with the Snap Camera, allowing users to take advantage of them during years of video calls. Sadly, the app is being shut down and removed, with its final days just being a few weeks away. Snap Inc. has updated its support page for Snap Camera, revealing that it will shut down the app on January 25, 2023. After that date, according to the site, the app will no longer be available for download, and it can no longer be used. The page also provides users instructions, so that they can