Ontario school boards, government advance conflicting plans on social media limits

In May, the Ford government proposed meeting with social media companies to discuss the problem of classroom distraction. Since then, it has showed few signs of following through.

The Ford government and a group of Ontario school boards are slowly moving forward with contrasting strategies to battle distractions in the classroom caused by social media apps like TikTok and Instagram.

A government-led plan to meet with the executives of major social media companies to discuss how to combat distractions has stalled with the rapid shuffle of three education ministers, while school boards gear up to take the same companies to court for billions of dollars.

In May, then-education minister Stephen Lecce told reporters he wanted to sit down with the leaders of companies like Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram to talk about how to cut out classroom distractions.

The announcement came as the government faced pressure to back a school-boards-led lawsuit seeking billions from the companies for classroom distractions and the effect their apps had allegedly had on children’s attention spans.

Instead of backing the suit, Lecce said it was key to get social media companies onside. He suggested social media bosses would know how to stop students from sneaking through age verification requirements or blocks designed to keep them focused in class.

“I look forward to that conversation and I believe that they’re willing to have that conversation in good faith,” Lecce told reporters on May 9.

“We believe social media companies have a role too, working with the government to get this right so that we focus our classrooms on academics. We get the distractions out of class.”

The plans to send out invitations for sit-down meetings with social media giants were promoted by the minister’s office, offering them as a clear alternative to the approach taken by school boards.