New York Mayor Sues Social Media Company For Its Impact On Youth Mental Health

New York Mayor ERoc Adams sued Social Media companies for having an impact on Youth Mental Health (photo: x @NYCMayor)

JAKARTA - New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday 14 February that his administration had filed a lawsuit against social media companies including Meta Platforms (Facebook and Instagram), Alphabet's YouTube, Snap Inc's Snapchat, and ByteDance's TikTok on their negative influence on youth's mental health.

The lawsuit, filed in California's Superior Court, also includes Alphabet's YouTube, Snapchat's Snap Inc, and ByteDance's TikTok, and states that the companies deliberately designed their platform to "manipulate and addiction children and teens to social media apps."

Meta, TikTok, and YouTube have faced hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of children and school districts related to social media addiction.

"Over the past decade, we have seen how addictive and dominating the online world can be, exposing our children to the flow of harmful content relentlessly and exacerbating our national mental health crisis," Adams said in a statement.

Social media companies have been in intensive spotlight as regulators encourage them to protect children from harmful content.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month apologized to his family during a hearing in the US Senate on the impact of social media on children.

A Meta spokesperson said the company wanted teens to have "safe and age-appropriate online experiences," while TikTok said it would continue to work to keep communities safe by addressing challenges across the industry.

"We have built services and policies to provide age-appropriate experiences for youth, and strong control for parents. Claims in this lawsuit are not true," Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said in a statement.