New York City Sues Social Media Giants for Fueling ‘Youth Mental Health Crisis’

New York City has filed a major lawsuit against Meta, Google, Snapchat, and TikTok, accusing them of contributing to what officials describe as a “youth mental health crisis.”

In a 327-page complaint submitted Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, the city alleges that the companies engaged in “gross negligence” and created a “public nuisance” by intentionally designing their platforms to keep young users hooked. According to Gizmodo, the lawsuit claims the companies engineered features that take advantage of children’s psychological weaknesses for profit, fostering addictive use of social media.

The city claims that Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube’s parent company Google have “exploited the psychology and neurophysiology of youth,” knowingly creating systems that make their products addictive. The complaint says the companies understand that children and teenagers are in a “developmental stage” that makes them especially susceptible to these effects, and that they use “algorithms that wield user data as a weapon against children and fuel the addiction machine” in pursuit of revenue.

The lawsuit argues that these companies “have created, caused, and contributed to the youth mental health crisis in New York City,” harming public health and safety and disrupting the use of public spaces such as schools. The complaint states that the city, its school system, and local hospitals have had to spend substantial resources — both financial and human — to deal with the consequences of young people’s growing social media addiction.

The complaint cites data showing that 77.3% of New York City high school students, including 82.1% of girls, report spending at least three hours a day in front of screens, including phones, computers, and televisions. Officials say this has contributed to poor sleep and increased absenteeism from school.

The lawsuit also links social media to dangerous trends such as “subway surfing,” in which individuals ride on top of or along the sides of moving trains. Police data show that at least 16 people have died in such incidents since 2023, including two girls aged 12 and 13 earlier this month.

According to Reuters, New York City joins roughly 2,050 other lawsuits filed by governments, school districts, and individuals across the United States, which have been consolidated in federal court in Oakland, California. With a population of 8.48 million — including about 1.8 million minors — New York is among the largest plaintiffs. Its public school system and healthcare network are also named as parties in the case.

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