PHOENIX — Deer Valley Unified School District is joining about a dozen other Arizona school districts suing social media companies over the platforms' impact on kids' mental health.
On Tuesday, the district's governing board voted 4-1 to join the litigation against Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube.
"The focus of this case is really about the increase in mental health issues we've seen with children," William Shinoff, the lead attorney on the case with Frantz Law Group, said.
Tempe Union High School District and Tolleson Union High School District are also among the dozen Arizona school districts and more than 900 nationwide that have filed suit against the companies.
"We believe that they've created very addictive algorithms intentionally to go and make sure that children stay on their platform as much as possible," Shinoff said of the social media platforms. "And even though while that may help their business, they're well aware of the harmful effects of it."
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While Deer Valley Unified School District's suit has yet to be filed, the complaint in the case claims the companies' algorithms are harmful and manipulative.
Shinoff said the goal is to see changes on the platforms and hold the companies financially responsible for mental healthcare costs for the districts.
"What the information is going to show is that that has increased over the time that these platforms have been in existence, and we believe that we'll be able to show that these companies are directly responsible for those increased costs," Shinoff said.
12News requested comments from all of the companies involved. Meta and TikTok have not responded to our request for comment.
A Snap spokesperson told 12News in part of a statement that the platform was designed to be different from "traditional social media," and noted how Snapchat opens to a camera rather than a feed of content to scroll through.
"While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence," the Snap spokesperson said.
YouTube's parent company Google said the allegations are not true.
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. The allegations in these complaints are simply not true," José Castañeda, Google Spokesperson, said in a written statement to 12News.
Shinoff said the case in federal court is scheduled for an October trial.
"They have attempted to dismiss these cases, you know, they claim they are not at fault," Shinoff said of the platforms. "They believe that they have immunity to these types of claims. We do not agree with them."
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