Ontario education minister meets with YouTube on classroom distractions

Ontario’s acquisition curate says she has met with executives from online video elephantine YouTube arsenic portion of a propulsion by the authorities to prosecute social media companies successful tackling schoolroom distractions.

In the spring, the authorities announced that, alternatively of participating successful a suit against societal media companies led by immoderate of Ontario’s largest schoolhouse boards, it would conscionable with executives astatine the companies.

Then-education curate Stephen Lecce said helium felt it was much productive to sermon however they could enactment with the companies alternatively of warring them successful court.

Months aft that announcement, however, caller Education Minister Jill Dunlop said she was inactive moving retired the details of meetings and trying to put them with assorted societal media companies.

In October, Dunlop was capable to publication her archetypal meeting.

“I person met with YouTube precocious and talked to the enactment astir what they bash to support children and young radical online,” she said Monday, referencing a gathering that took spot successful precocious October.

“So I person met with them and I volition beryllium gathering with the different companies arsenic well.”

It is not wide erstwhile Dunlop plans to conscionable with the different societal media companies, oregon which apps and services are connected the government’s list.

“I privation to conscionable with the companies to look astatine what they are doing to support our students but ensuring that we are protecting our students by banning societal media is precise important,” she said.

The Ministry of Education previously told Global News it reached retired to societal media executives successful June, inviting them to conscionable with the government.

At the aforesaid time, respective of the province’s schoolhouse boards are taking a antithetic approach, suing societal media giants for the alleged effects their apps person had connected children’s attraction spans and learning.

A fig of boards — including successful Toronto, Peel and Ottawa — directed a ineligible situation successful the outpouring astatine Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook and Instagram; Snap Inc., which owns Snapchat; and ByteDance Ltd., which owns Tiktok.

The situation demanded $4 cardinal from societal media companies, alleging that their products person rewired however children think, behave and larn and that educators and schools person been near to “manage the fallout.”