NYC sues five social media leaders, saying they damage mental health of young people
Mayor Adams’ administration sued the owners of five major social media platforms Wednesday with an aim to hold them “financially responsible” for the city’s youth mental health crisis, joining a wave of similar legal actions brought by jurisdictions across the country.
The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court, alleges the owners of TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat “knew or should have known” that their platforms would harm the mental health and wellbeing of children and teens. Specifically, the suit charges the platforms’ “dangerous and addictive” algorithms are driving up rates of suicide, radicalization, self-harm, anxiety and depression among youth as they’re designed to boost engagement even if that comes from advancing violent, sexist and racist material.
To that end, Adams said in a livestreamed speech at City Hall on Wednesday afternoon that the owners of those platforms should be held “financially responsible for what they cost our city year and year.”
At a press conference later in the day, Adams and his advisers noted the city spends about $100 million per year on youth mental health programs. But they wouldn’t give a dollar figure for the punitive damages they want the social media giants to pay the city.
“At this time, to give you a number of what we expect is not something we’re prepared to do,” Sylvia Hinds-Radix, the city’s corporation counsel, told reporters.
Ashwin Vasan, Adams’ health commissioner, acknowledged litigation can only go so far when it comes to reforming social media platforms.
He said congressional legislation is ultimately going to be required to overhaul social media platforms’ focus on catering to young audiences because “we know they are not going anywhere.”
“No one is talking about a ban here,” he added.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of Adams declaring social media a public health crisis last month, a mostly symbolic move that encourages New Yorkers to ensure that their children don’t overuse social media.
In response to the lawsuit, a spokeswoman for Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said the platforms already have “over 30 tools and features” to help parents make social media safe for their kids.
“We’ve spent a decade working on these issues and hiring people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe and supported online,” the spokeswoman, Liza Crenshaw, said.
Jose Castañeda, a spokesman for Google, which owns YouTube, said its platform has also developed policies to give “parents robust controls.”
“The allegations in this complaint are simply not true, ” Castañeda added.
Reps for the parent companies of Snapchat and TikTok didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Notably, the owners of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, weren’t named as a defendant in the suit. A City Hall spokeswoman said that’s because X isn’t as popular with young audiences as the other five platforms.
The city’s suit was filed together with Keller Rohrback, a Seattle-based law firm specializing in large-scale class action cases. Hinds-Radix said the firm will only get paid a percentage of any damages awarded.
The Adams administration’s legal action comes months after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a federal lawsuit in October with a coalition of other states similarly seeking to hold Meta responsible for contributing “to a national youth mental health crisis.”
Hundreds of school districts across the country have also filed similar lawsuits, starting with a case brought by Seattle’s public school system in early 2023.