Politico Digital Future Daily: Differing visions for protecting kids may stifle online safety laws

By Ruth Reader on 12/3/25

Meta and TikTok provided funding to the National Parent Teacher Association as part of outreach campaigns aimed at families, according to court documents filed on November 21 in a 45-district multi-state lawsuit against Meta and other social media platforms.

“Our association remains committed to providing and connecting families with tools, research and support to help them navigate the digital world and help their teens be safe online,” Heidi Wilson, senior manager of media relations for the NPTA, said via email.

Meta and TikTok declined to comment on the filings.

The document filed in the Northern District of California court was a response to a request for a summary judgment in a case that more than 800 school districts brought against the social media companies. This case is one of 2,191 cases in the consolidated lawsuit. Lawyers for the school districts say the case should go to trial given what they’ve already found in discovery.

The filing provides snippets of evidence that has not yet been unsealed. Schools allege that TikTok and Meta used their relationships with NPTA members to market their products to children and their parents. They also argue TikTok and Meta’s relationships with the NPTA gave the companies ample opportunity to warn parents about the risks the companies were observing.

What the court documents say: In 2018, Meta paid the organization $110,000 as part of a partnership to cohost 200 community safety events focused on navigating online bullying and media literacy, according to the court documents.

Through its partnership with the NPTA, Facebook was able to obtain footage of PTA families trying out Facebook products and get testimonials from them, which allowed them to “build trust with parents and with press.”

The filings also describe a Meta teen ambassador program. Teens who promoted Facebook’s platform and its high school directory were rewarded with branded swag and Amazon gift cards. The lawsuit says the campaign encouraged teens to post about their summer vacations and their transition back to school.

Separately, in 21018, Instagram paid children’s publisher Scholastic $135,000 to distribute materials related to its products to 20,000 classrooms nationwide, the documents say.

Meta’s relationship with NPTA continued. In 2024, Meta and the NPTA announced that they would cohost “Screen Smart” workshops, intended to teach parents how to “manage their teens’ online experiences.”

TikTok also saw an opportunity to promote its platform through a relationship with the PTA. In 2019, TikTok started a “formal relationship” with the NPTA, per the documents. Once TikTok became a paid sponsor, TikTok company officials wrote in emails that the NPTA’s CEO would “do press statements for us” and that the organization would “announce things publicly,” the documents say.

In 2024, TikTok announced that it made “it possible for National PTA to award over $300,000 in funding to 100 local and regional PTSAs” for a campaign called “Create with Kindness,” in which the PTA hosted educational sessions for parents on how to create TikTok videos and set screen time and content preferences.

Context: The broader lawsuit claims that social media platforms run by Meta, TikTok, Google and Snap are defective products that encourage harmful and addictive behaviors and that the companies knew about those problems, but failed to address them.

According to the plaintiffs, internal chats among researchers at Meta described Instagram as “a drug” that causes what they called “reward deficit disorder,” a nonclinical term they used to describe diminished enjoyment from everyday activities. Plaintiffs and expert witnesses also said that senior leadership at Meta, including Adam Mosseri, former head of product, now CEO at Instagram, were aware of the concerns.

Similarly, internal TikTok documents show that workers were aware the platform was addictive and fostered compulsive use that “correlates with a slew of negative mental effects.” Employees also recognized that children weren’t capable of setting their own screen-time limits.

Parents push back: In March, the children’s safety advocacy group Parents for Safe Online Spaces, or ParentsSOS, wrote to the NPTA expressing concern that the association was working with tech companies that had lobbied against certain online-safety legislation — a measure that the NPTA had also supported. The organization offered to meet to discuss a path forward.

The NPTA demurred. “We are not seeking to promote the increased use of any particular app or platform, but we do believe that if families are going to allow their teens to be on a particular app or platform, then it’s crucial for everyone in the household to know how to safely navigate that platform,” said NPTA President Yvonne Johnson in response to the letter.

What’s next: The summary judgment hearing is set for Jan. 26.