Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Rhino Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv Subject: Re: [OT] School boards launch multibillion dollar lawsuits against social media companies Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2024 17:21:08 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 67 Message-ID: <20240328172108.00001388@example.com> References: <20240328131230.00003892@example.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2024 21:21:09 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="6dac6cb917ffc13ee2e292920c046ba4"; logging-data="3920755"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18DdhhmQmWEVp89KJW/HdAmLLfzpKkPdjw=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:Sp7NR/IVwOa7BXCo/QTtEvqkYvw= X-Antivirus: Avast (VPS 240328-4, 3/28/2024), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status: Clean X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.2.0 (GTK 3.24.41; x86_64-w64-mingw32) Bytes: 4471 On Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:28:25 -0700 BTR1701 wrote: > In article <20240328131230.00003892@example.com>, > Rhino wrote: > > > School boards in Toronto, Peel Region (the Toronto suburbs just > > west of Toronto) and Ottawa have launched lawsuits claiming over $4 > > billion in damages from operators of Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok > > and others. > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNNlplE19lY [12 minutes] > > > > The school boards are making use of lawyers that are operating on a > > contingency basis so the lawyers only get part of the settlement if > > they are successful and no tax money is being spent on the lawyers. > > This implies that the lawyers are highly confident that they are > > going to win. I find that surprising given the vagueness of the > > claims made by the board and the difficulty of proving the damage > > done by social media in court. > > > > After all, I think there is a general sense that kids are spending > > too much time on social media but how do you prove that actual harm > > is being done, that the harm is exclusively caused by the social > > media, and then how do you quantify the harm in dollar terms? > > And that even if there is quantifiable harm, how it's harm to the > school district rather than the individual kids. I mean, if > Instragram, et al have liability here, wouldn't it be the kids who > deserve the money rather than some school board bureaucrats? > I'm sure they'll never admit but I'll bet the teachers are getting frustrated with kids that are looking at content that challenges the "progressive" narrative who then speak up in class and cause the rest of the kids to see that so much of what the teacher are saying is hokum. It only takes a handful of kids that are thinking for themselves to disrupt the whole indoctrination process so even if the vast majority of the kids are looking at mindless dancing videos, the few that are seeing thought-provoking content undermine the teachers' efforts by themselves. Given that discipline is almost completely missing from schools now, I don't see how the teachers can really hope to shut down the students that are challenging what the teachers are saying. At least I HOPE that is what is happening. Then again, perhaps the kids have been so dumbed-down that none of them are seeing anything that contradicts "The Narrative". > > If I was a lawyer for the social media companies, I think I'd have a > > field day defending them in the legal process. One of the first > > questions I'd have would be about the school boards' own rules > > around the use of social media in schools. Are kids allowed to use > > social media while at school? If so, why? Given the harm it is > > alleged to be causing, why would the schools allow kids to access > > social media while they are on school property? > > Yep. Even if the schools' argument is taken as true, they'd seem to > be guilty of contributory negligence. If these lawsuits are > successful, as a parent, I'd turn around and sue the school, using > their own arguments and precedent against them, and demand money for > harming my kid. Excellent reasoning! I'd love to see the parents do exactly that! -- Rhino