Amid rising support for restricting youth access to social media platforms nationwide, San Diego County has decided to buck that trend — at least for now.
“It is important to do everything we can to protect the health and well-being of children, but my colleagues chose to ignore the health impacts of social media on our youth,” Lawson-Remer said. “By seeking out options to take legal action, we would be able to hold opportunistic social media companies accountable and push them to change the way they do business.”
U.S. teens are spending on average about five hours each day on social media apps, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, according to the American Psychological Association. A payout from such litigation could help correct the damage, her office suggested, pointing out that the county expects to collect tens of millions of dollars in opioid settlement money from similar suits against drug companies to fight the opioid and fentanyl crisis in San Diego.To flip his vote, Anderson said the policy would need to be amended to explore similar actions against the cannabis industry.