To all those who follow the York Catholic District School Board on social media, thank you.
We believe in social media’s promise to inform, inspire and spread joy to the world. Sadly, though, many social media platforms have strayed from this promise. This is why York Catholic joined school boards from across the province in suing Meta, Snapchat and TikTok for the harm that these platforms’ algorithms have caused to children.
Today, we are sharing that in order to live our faith and protect our students, starting on January 1, 2025, the York Catholic District School Board will no longer monitor or post on its X account. Likewise, our schools, clubs and departments will stop posting on this platform.
For a number of years, X was York Catholic’s only social media platform. Over time, 50,000 people joined us there to learn more about York Catholic’s province-leading educational experience and how a publicly funded Catholic education can change the world one child at a time.
Unfortunately, X recently changed its “Adult Content Policy” to allow pornographic content to be posted on that platform. As Catholics, we look to The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which tells us that pornography “does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public) since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. … Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.”
This week, we concluded the first round of information sessions in partnership with the York Regional Police on protecting children from human trafficking and online sexual exploitation. Those who attended those sessions learned about how some internet pornography is produced under exploitative circumstances; this fact supports the Catholic Church’s opposition to pornography.
Community partners have shared that while searching for York Catholic content, they have found pornography posted by non-York Catholic accounts, and we find that unacceptable. As a Catholic learning community entrusted with nurturing children, we cannot encourage our community to engage with us on a platform where such content is considered acceptable.
We would be very happy if you stayed digitally connected with the York Catholic District School Board via Instagram, Threads, and/or LinkedIn. Schools that have not already done so will open accounts on these platforms, and we hope you will follow them as well.
Thank you again for being a member of our community and engaging in the mission of Catholic education.