LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Clark County School District is considering taking legal action against major social media companies.
Lawyers claim the apps are addictive and are causing a spike in mental health issues. Thursday night, CCSD will consider a lawsuit.
"It causes a ripple effect through schools," said Joseph Vanzandt, an attorney with the Beasley Allen Law Firm.
Attorney Vanzandt says school districts across the country are looking to take on major social media companies such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat.
He says the companies are targeting minors and it is taking a toll on their mental health.
Thursday, the Clark County School District will consider joining the litigation.
"One of our primary complaints that we have alleged in both federal and state court involved social media companies intentionally designing their products to be addictive almost like slot machines for everything," he said. "The colors, where the buttons are placed, the way the feed refreshes."
He says that is to increase advertising revenue.
"It is not only the design features of the addiction, but it is also the content these companies use. Algorithms that are designed to keep people, especially youth, on as long as possible and engaged as long as possible," he said.
School districts are seeing a spike in students dealing with mental health issues like self harm or eating disorders.
"Not just harming kids," Vanzandt said. "But school resources. Budgets man power is limited and schools have to divert significant resources to deal with problems caused by companies preying on children. That is a problem."
He says this is similar to the lawsuit filed in recent years against e-cigarette company, Juul, claiming minors were suffering form the negative impact of the products and school districts were dealing with the epidemic.
Also on Tuesday, the Nevada Attorney General announced that Nevada has reached a similar settlement with CVS Pharmacy regarding the company's role in the opioid pandemic.
Recently, Clark County has been dealing with issues with social media posts includingviral social media threats that prompted many students to stay home from school.
"I can't say it doesn't haunt me a little bit," said parent Karl Maisner.
Maisner is a CCSD parent and president of KMJ Marketing company. He uses social media on a regular basis and says he has to have conversation with his child about it, especially the posts.
"If you would have asked me 10 years ago, I would have said no," he said. "The world has changed quite a bit since then, and being that we are involved in social media, what we do here is a little more top of mind."
