scanning through a list of court filings last Friday evening, January 6th, one case jumped out immediately. Seattle School District, number one, Plaintiff versus Meta, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Tik-Tock, bite dance, alphabet, Google, YouTube, and others.

As a tech reporter based in Seattle, that certainly got my attention and I wasn't the only

one.

After GeekWire broke the story last Saturday morning, it made news across the country.

The Seattle school system is taking on big tech, suing TikTok, Facebook and YouTube

for deepening the mental health crisis among kids.

The 91-page complaint accuses the tech giants of targeting children with harmful content forcing schools to hire mental health

professionals develop lesson plans specifically about the

effects of social media and provide additional training to teachers.

This is a really novel case it's really saying that the district is being

harmed in turn based on that student harm. So this is a different approach

than some of the lawsuits that we've seen in the past.

Seattle Public Schools is suing the social media giants for damages stemming from what

the suit describes as a youth mental health crisis in Seattle and across the nation.

That crisis, the suit alleges, has been caused by the deliberate actions of the companies

in deploying algorithms designed to, quote,

maximize engagement by praying on the psychology of children.

Critics say the suit oversimplifies the causes of mental health challenges by

pinning the blame on social media companies and not recognizing the responsibilities of parents and schools

plus other societal factors. The suit, modeled after e-cigarette litigation, will also need to overcome some significant legal hurdles.

However, in making national news, the lawsuit has already succeeded in drawing more attention to the issue of youth

mental health, as well as the roles

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