Wausau School Board to vote on joining lawsuit against social media giants
Reported byWausau Pilot & Review
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The Wausau School Board is set to vote Monday at a 5 p.m. meeting on whether the district should join lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube. Assistant Superintendent of Operations Elizabeth Channel is to present the proposal. The agenda calls it a class action, but the article says each district files its own complaint and the cases are grouped before a federal judge in Oakland, California. No resolution, legal agreement or cost estimate came with the agenda materials, and the district had not shared resolution wording when asked. District spokesperson Diana White says Renning, Lewis & Lacy would serve as local counsel, while four firms lead the case and split a 25% fee owed only if money is recovered. She estimates staff would spend eight to 10 hours on written discovery.
The suits allege the companies designed their apps to keep young users hooked and lacked strong age checks and parental controls. Meta says the design theory sidesteps federal protections, and Google calls the allegations untrue. Districts point to costs such as counseling, discipline and lost class time. The only district case resolved so far, Breathitt County Schools in Kentucky, settled in May for about $27 million, according to records Reuters obtained. The district had sought more than $60 million. Tucson Unified's trial is set for February. Kenosha, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Racine are known Wisconsin plaintiffs.
Why it matters
The vote could commit district staff time and expose the district to a lawsuit with uncertain results, while the potential payoff is unclear. Missing documents and the wording of the agenda item also raise questions for residents about how much information the public has before the board decides.
- Board vote
- District lawsuits
- Mental health
- Transparency and open records
Written with AI from the publisher's article and may contain errors. The original reporting is the authoritative source.
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- What information should the board release to the public before voting on joining a lawsuit like this one?
- How should a district weigh the staff time and uncertain outcome of litigation against the possible recovery of money?
- How else could the district address student mental health and technology concerns, whether or not it joins the suit?
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