New York City has filed a sweeping federal lawsuit against Meta, Google, Snap, TikTok, and ByteDance, accusing them of addicting children to social media and worsening a mental health crisis among young users. The 327-page complaint, lodged in Manhattan federal court, seeks damages for gross negligence and public nuisance, alleging that platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok were deliberately engineered to exploit the psychology of youth for profit.
The lawsuit claims the companies’ products have contributed to rising rates of depression, sleep deprivation, and chronic absenteeism among minors. According to the city’s data, more than 77% of New York City high school students spend over three hours daily on screens, and 82% of girls report similar habits.
New York’s health commissioner declared social media a public health hazard earlier this year, citing growing taxpayer burdens to combat mental health challenges in schools. The city also linked compulsive platform use to dangerous behaviors such as “subway surfing,” which has caused at least 16 deaths since 2023.
The case joins over 2,000 similar lawsuits filed nationwide, now consolidated in federal court in Oakland, California. A spokesperson for Google rejected the allegations, saying YouTube is a streaming platform rather than a social network. Other defendants have not yet commented.
The city argues that the companies must be held accountable for the harm caused by their algorithms, which it says have created a costly and deadly youth mental health epidemic.