NYC Sues Platforms It Claims Cause Harm to Kids

New York City is suing social media platforms TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube, alleging their practices exploit teens and cost the city $100 million yearly in health services.

Plaintiffs named in the complaint are New York City, together with the New York City Department of Education and the New York City Health + Hospitals network.

The government agencies allege there has been an increase in mental health issues in children and teens, including depression and thoughts of suicide, and accuse the social media platforms of being responsible. The result of this increase in mental health issues has resulted in an increased burden on “cities, school districts and public hospital systems that provide mental health services to youth.”

While many families and states have already brought legal action against social media platforms, New York City is the first to bring an action at this scale, directly seeking monetary damages to contribute to the funding necessary to help with mental health care services.

The lawsuit builds upon the warnings made last year by the Surgeon General and President Biden and a substantial amount of peer reviewed research that assert the harmful impacts of social media on children.

This comes only weeks after the CEOs of a number social media platforms testified before the Senate on their platform’s risks to teen users and the actions they are taking to mitigate this.

The complaint alleges that the named social media platforms are “borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques” and that they “deliberately embedded in their platforms an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue.”

A Meta representative has responded to the lawsuit. “We’ve spent a decade working on these issues and hiring people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe and supported online.”

José Castañeda, a spokesperson from YouTube parent company Google claims that “the allegations in this complaint are simply not true,” and Google works with mental health professionals to give an age-appropriate experience to its users.

The lawsuit is one part of New York City’s Plan of Action to address the current situation. The plan revolves around three key pillars: holding social media companies to account, educating youth and those around them about a healthy use of social media, and conducting research to further understand the impacts of social media on youth.