Tech Companies Making a Profit While Schools Face Mental Health Issues Among Students - The Rationale Behind School Districts Suing Tech Companies Relating to Youth Mental Well-being
In a landmark move, the legal battle against tech companies over their impact on student mental health began in 2023 with Seattle Public Schools filing the first major case. Since then, over 500 districts have joined similar lawsuits, including Houston ISD, the largest district in Texas.
The lawsuits allege that tech giants like Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and others have created addictive and psychologically harmful platforms, contributing to a mental health crisis among students. The nature of online harm has changed dramatically, with students using AI to generate explicit images, spread them across platforms, and fuel harassment campaigns that blur the line between school and social media.
Harford County Public Schools, in Maryland, sued Meta, Google, ByteDance, and Snap in 2023, alleging that the companies’ addictive platforms have harmed student mental health, causing schools to struggle with increased mental health service demands. The lawsuits argue that the social media platforms were intentionally designed to exploit adolescent brains, contributing to rising rates of depression, anxiety, bullying, and even suicide among minors.
The legal action is advancing through a coordinated federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), with discovery and pre-trial processes actively proceeding and trials imminent within the next year. Six school districts from different states, including Harford County Public Schools, are among the first bellwether cases selected for early jury trials to assess the claims that platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube contribute to youth mental health challenges.
Some districts have taken measures to mitigate the impact of technology on students. Some now require students to lock phones in magnetic pouches at the start of the day, while administrators are adapting by expanding mental health staffing, offering digital literacy programs, and confiscating phones during the school day.
The cost of addressing the youth mental health crisis caused by technology is being placed on public schools and the children they serve. Attorneys argue that without legal pressure, tech companies have little incentive to slow down their growth engines or redesign systems that keep kids coming back, even when it causes psychological harm. The lawsuits seek to hold companies financially responsible for the burden on schools to address this crisis and to force changes in platform design.
The MDL currently includes nearly 2,000 pending actions as of August 2025, with school districts across multiple states involved. Internal documents made public in state-level lawsuits, including those brought by 33 attorneys general, show that Meta knew Instagram was contributing to negative mental health outcomes in teens but continued to prioritize features that maximized engagement.
Conflicts that start online, such as bullying, image sharing, or AI-enhanced harassment, are increasingly spilling over into schools, requiring teachers and staff to intervene. The mental health of teenagers in the U.S. has been deteriorating for the past decade, with schools often acting as the first and only line of defense against the emotional and behavioral impacts of social media.
These policy changes underscore how seriously state leaders are taking the issue of youth mental health and technology. A 2025 Pew Research Center study found that 46% of teen girls report feeling sad or depressed because of social platforms, and almost 70% of teens believe social media negatively impacts their peers' mental health. Town halls and public information efforts are underway in some districts to raise awareness of the lawsuit and the issues involved.
[1] "Harford County Public Schools sues Meta, Google, ByteDance and Snap over student mental health" - The Washington Post, 2023 [2] "School Districts Sue Tech Companies Over Mental Health Impacts of Social Media" - The New York Times, 2025 [3] "School Districts Take Legal Action Against Tech Companies Over Mental Health Issues" - CNN, 2025 [4] "MDL Over Student Mental Health and Social Media: What You Need to Know" - The National Law Review, 2025 [5] "The Impact of Social Media on Adolescent Mental Health: A Systematic Review" - JAMA Pediatrics, 2021
- The legal action against tech companies, including Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and others, over their contribution to a mental health crisis among students has expanded beyond Seattle Public Schools, with over 500 districts now involved, such as Harford County Public Schools in Maryland. These lawsuits argue that these platform's psychologically harmful designs trigger depression, anxiety, bullying, and even suicide.
- The educational landscape is increasingly focusing on health and wellness, with schools taking measures to mitigate the impact of technology on students' mental health. This includes requiring students to lock phones, expanding mental health staffing, offering digital literacy programs, and confiscating phones during the school day, as a response to the rising costs associated with addressing the youth mental health crisis caused by technology.
