NYC sues social media giants for allegedly addicting children | Social Media News

The most important US metropolis is amongst greater than 2,000 different municipalities pursuing related lawsuits.

New York Metropolis has filed a lawsuit accusing Fb, Google, Snapchat, TikTok and different on-line platforms of fuelling a psychological well being disaster amongst kids by addicting them to social media.

The 327-page grievance filed on Wednesday in federal courtroom in Manhattan seeks damages from Fb and Instagram proprietor Meta Platforms, Google and YouTube proprietor Alphabet, Snapchat proprietor Snap and TikTok proprietor ByteDance. It accused the defendants of gross negligence and inflicting a public nuisance.

The town joined different governments, faculty districts and people pursuing about 2,050 related lawsuits in nationwide litigation within the Oakland, California, federal courtroom.

New York Metropolis is among the many largest plaintiffs with a inhabitants of 8.48 million, together with about 1.8 million underneath age 18. Its faculty and healthcare techniques are additionally plaintiffs.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda mentioned allegations regarding YouTube are “merely not true”, partially as a result of it’s a streaming service and never a social community the place individuals meet up with mates.

The opposite defendants didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

A spokesperson for New York Metropolis’s legislation division mentioned the town withdrew from litigation introduced by Mayor Eric Adams in February 2024 and pending in California state courts so it may be part of the federal litigation.

In keeping with Wednesday’s grievance, the defendants designed their platforms to “exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of youth” and drive compulsive use in pursuit of revenue.

The grievance mentioned 77.3 p.c of New York Metropolis highschool college students admitted to spending three or extra hours a day on “display time” together with TV, computer systems and smartphones, contributing to misplaced sleep and persistent faculty absences.

New York Metropolis’s well being commissioner declared social media a public well being hazard in January 2024, and the town, together with its faculties, has needed to spend extra taxpayer {dollars} to deal with the ensuing youth psychological well being disaster, the grievance mentioned.

The town additionally blamed social media for a rise in “subway browsing”, or using atop or off the perimeters of shifting trains. A minimum of 16 subway surfers have died since 2023, together with two women aged 12 and 13 this month, police knowledge present.

“Defendants must be held to account for the harms their conduct has inflicted,” the town mentioned. “Because it stands now, [the] plaintiffs are left to abate the nuisance and foot the invoice.”