New York mayor sues social media firms for youth mental health crisis

New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a Lights for Liberty event demanding the release of the remaining 135 hostages held in Gaza, in Manhattan in New York City, U.S. December 13, 2023. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday that his administration has filed a lawsuit against social media companies, including Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram, for fueling mental health crisis among the youth.

The lawsuit, filed in the California Superior Court, includes Alphabet’s YouTube, Snap Inc’s Snapchat and ByteDance’s TikTok. It alleges that the companies intentionally designed their platforms to “purposefully manipulate and addict children and teens to social media applications.”

Meta, TikTok, and YouTube have already faced hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of children and school districts over the addictiveness of social media.

READ: Social media monster targeting youth mental health, says U.S. report

“Over the past decade, we have seen just how addictive and overwhelming the online world can be, exposing our children to a non-stop stream of harmful content and fueling our national youth mental health crisis,” Adams said in a statement.

Social media companies have been scrutinized as regulators push them to protect children from harmful content.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month apologized to families at a U.S. Senate hearing about social media’s impact on children.

READ: U.S. top health official sounds alarm on child social media use

A Meta spokesperson said the company wanted teens to have “safe, age-appropriate experiences online,” while TikTok said it will continue to work to keep the community safe by tackling industry-wide challenges.

“We’ve built services and policies to give young people age-appropriate experiences and parents robust controls. The allegations in this complaint are simply not true,” Google’s spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement.