Boards of all school systems in the social media litigation voted to join the lawsuit
Six Upper Cumberland school systems have thrown their hat in the ring for a lawsuit against social media platforms to “protect” students.
Cannon County Schools, Cumberland County Schools, Fentress County Schools, Putnam County Schools, Van Buren County Schools and Warren County Schools have joined the fight amid what some are calling a “growing mental health crisis among students. ”Thirty other Tennessee school systems have filed similar lawsuits seeking “actionable accountability, tools and resources to address the lack of protections, monitors, controls and cooperation to protect children,” according to a release.
- Companies included in the lawsuit include:
- Meta
- TikTok
- Snapchat
- YouTube
(Meta Platforms, Inc; Facebook Holdings, LLC; Facebook Operations, LLC; Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC; Meta Payments, Inc.; Instagram, LLC; Siculus, Inc.; Snap, Inc.; TikTok, Inc.; ByteDance, Inc.; Alphabet, Inc.; Google, LLC; XXVI Holdings, Inc.; WhatsApp, Inc.; and YouTube, LLC.).
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System was the 1st District in filing. Frantz Law Group in California, working with Lewis Thomason in Tennessee, is managing the lawsuit.
“The concern about the lack of proper protections and the negative impacts on children who use social media is clearly an important issue for school systems across the state,” Lewis Thomason attorney Chris McCarty said. “Hundreds of thousands of students are represented by these school systems, which amplifies the demands to social media giants.”
The boards of all school systems in the social media litigation voted to join the lawsuit and include:
- Anderson County Schools
- Bedford County Schools
- Bledsoe County Schools
- Blount County Schools
- Claiborne County Schools
- Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools
- Cleveland City Schools
- Collierville Schools
- Crockett County Schools
- Grainger County Schools
- Greene County Schools
- Greeneville City Schools
- Hamblen County Schools
- Humphreys County Schools
- Johnson City Schools
- Johnson County Schools
- Knox County Schools
- Lenoir City Schools
- Lincoln County Schools
- Loudon County Schools
- Manchester City Schools
- Maryville City Schools
- Metro Nashville Public Schools
- Oak Ridge City Schools
- Oneida Special School District
- Sevier County Schools
- Shelby County Schools
- Stewart County Schools
- Sullivan County Schools
- Wilson County Schools
“Controls for student access to these platforms combined with helpful resources have the potential to help parents, teachers and students as they navigate social media,” said William Shinoff, an attorney with the Frantz Law Group. “These media giants have an opportunity – and a responsibility – to protect children.”
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