NYC Files Lawsuit Against Social Media Companies for ‘Fueling the Nationwide Youth Mental Health Crisis’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced that the city is suing five top social media companies for “fueling the nationwide youth mental health crisis.”
The lawsuit, filed in California on Wednesday, names Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Snap’s Snapchat, ByteDance’s TikTok, and Google’s YouTube.
“New York City, like other parts of this nation, is battling an unprecedented mental health crisis among its youth and serious disruption to the public health, fueled by Defendants’ creation and promotion of addictive and dangerous social media platforms,” the 305-page lawsuit’s introduction begins. “Youth are now addicted to Defendants’ platforms in droves, resulting in substantial interference with school district operations and imposing a large burden on cities, school districts and public hospital systems that provide mental health services to youth.”
The lawsuit alleges that the companies drive youth usage through “behavioral and neurobiological techniques used in slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry.”
The complaint continues,
