Lawsuit claims tech firms make ‘addictive, harmful’ products.
New York City, along with its schools and public hospital system, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against major tech companies including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. The suit accuses these platforms of being “addictive and dangerous,” contributing to a mental health crisis among children that disrupts learning and drains resources.
The filing, spanning 311 pages in California’s superior court where the companies are based, highlights the vulnerability of children and adolescents due to their incomplete brain development. It states, “Youth are now addicted to defendants’ platforms in droves.”
The nation’s largest school district, serving approximately 1 million students, has faced challenges both inside and outside the classroom. It has had to address disruptions, offer counseling for anxiety and depression, and create educational materials about social media’s impact and online safety. The city invests over $100 million annually in programs and services for youth mental health, as stated by Mayor Eric Adams’ office.
“In the past decade, we’ve witnessed how the online world can be addictive and overwhelming, exposing our children to a constant stream of harmful content and exacerbating our national youth mental health crisis,” stated Adams.
This legal action is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by states, school districts, and others. They allege that social media companies exploit children and teenagers by intentionally designing features that encourage them to scroll endlessly and frequently check their accounts.
According to the new lawsuit filed by the city of New York, its Department of Education, and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp, the largest public hospital system in the country, teenagers acknowledge they spend excessive time on social media but feel unable to stop.
The lawsuit aims to have the companies’ behavior deemed a public nuisance and to be remedied, along with seeking unspecified monetary damages.
In response to the filing, the tech companies stated that they have been and continue to develop and enforce policies and controls that prioritize user safety.
José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, the parent company of YouTube, stated via email that the allegations in the complaint are false. He added that the company has worked with experts in youth, mental health, and parenting.
A TikTok spokesperson mentioned ongoing collaborations aimed at understanding and implementing best practices to address industry-wide challenges.
“TikTok has leading safeguards in place to promote teens’ well-being, including age-restricted features, parental controls, an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18, and more,” stated an emailed communication.
According to the Pew Research Center, nearly all teenagers in the US use social media, with about one in six describing their usage of YouTube and TikTok as “almost constant.”
A Meta spokesperson, representing Facebook and Instagram, stated that the company is committed to providing teens with safe and age-appropriate online experiences. They mentioned having over 30 tools and features to support teens and their parents, with a decade of work dedicated to these issues. During a late January Senate hearing, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, expressed condolences to parents whose children had taken their own lives after experiencing exploitation and abuse on social media.
Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, stated that its app differs intentionally from others by opening directly to a camera instead of a feed of content that encourages passive scrolling. It also does not have traditional public likes or comments.
The statement continued, “While there is always more work to be done, we are confident in the positive role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy, and prepared as they navigate the challenges of adolescence.”