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JCPS joins other school districts in suing social media companies

The lawsuit is against social media companies, like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Jefferson County Public School Board approved a lawsuit to be filed against social media companies, like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat.

JCPS joins a list of schools across the country filing suit, saying social media companies have developed algorithms to drive children to content that is not appropriate and causes psychological harm.

The District claims these practices and content have contributed to a mental health crisis among children.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over the extent to which federal law protects the tech industry from such claims when social media algorithms push potentially harmful content. 

During the arguments, justices expressed wariness towards Google's claim that a 1996 law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, affords it, Twitter, Facebook and other companies far-reaching immunity from lawsuits over their targeted recommendations of videos, documents and other content. 

Lower courts have broadly interpreted Section 230 to protect the industry, which the companies and their allies say has fueled the meteoric growth of the internet by protecting businesses from lawsuits over posts by users and encouraging the removal of harmful content. 

But critics argue that the companies have not done nearly enough to police and moderate content and that the law should not block lawsuits over the recommendations that point viewers to more material that interests them and keeps them online longer. 

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