The city of New York lashes out against the world's major social media and sues TikTok, Facebook and YouTube for damage to the mental health of children and young people. The mayor of the Big Apple, Eric adams, had announced it a few weeks ago, when he defined social platforms as a "danger for public health" and a “environmental toxin”. Now he has moved from words to deeds.
New York sues TikTok, Facebook and YouTube
The lawsuit was filed in California court, where the companies are based. According to the accusations, Meta (parent company of Facebook), Snap, ByteDance (which owns TikTok) and Google (parent of YouTube) have consciously built and marketed their platforms to “attract, capture and create dependence in young people".
The initiative is not the first of its kind, but rather recalls the proceedings brought in 2022 in the State of California.
A few weeks ago, the mayor of New York anticipated his intentions, saying that the city spends 100 million dollars a year to fund youth mental health treatment programs. “Many social media sites end up putting children's mental health is at risk, promote addiction and encourage unhealthy behavior,” he said. “Over the past decade we have seen how the online world can expose our children to a continuous flow of harmful content and fuel the national mental health crisis of young people,” the mayor explained in a statement.
In addition to New York City, the plaintiffs also include the school district and healthcare institutions, which allege that the proprietary companies have “knowingly designed, developed, produced, operated, promoted, distributed and marketed their platforms to attract and create dependency, with minimal parental supervision."
TikTok, YouTube and Facebook are fueling a mental health crisis
At the end of January, the mayor of New York also referred to a document prepared by the health commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan. “Companies like TikTok, YouTube and Facebook are fueling a mental health crisis designing their platforms with dangerous and addictive features,” Adams added.
“We can't stand by and let it go Big Tech monetizes our children's privacy and jeopardize their mental health,” Eric Adams said in a speech at the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. “We are the first major American city to take this step and denounce the dangers of social media. Just as with tobacco and guns, we are treating social media like other public health risks and making sure tech companies take responsibility for their products seriously.”
