Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court against major social media companies for intentionally creating addiction and creating mental health problems in minors. He is suing Facebook and Instagram (subsidiaries of Meta Platforms, Inc.), Snapchat (subsidiary of Snap, Inc.), TikTok (subsidiaries of ByteDance, Ltd.) and YouTube (subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc.).
"Over the past decade, we have seen just how addictive and overwhelming the online world can be, exposing our children to a non-stop stream of harmful content and fueling our national youth mental health crisis," Adams said.
The mayor added that this lawsuit is a way to take "bold action on behalf of millions of New Yorkers to hold these companies accountable for their role in this crisis" and "a larger reckoning that will shape the lives of our young people, our city, and our society for years to come."
It is not the first time a politician has sued social networks for these reasons
This is not the first time a local or state official has filed a lawsuit against social networks. The lawsuit argues that these platforms are addictive and cause mental health problems in minors.
In January of last year, Seattle public schools filed a lawsuit against the tech giants that own TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat. The district alleged that students are being fed harmful online content, increasing mental health crises and causing behavioral disorders. It also alleges that social media companies not only allow this to happen but encourage it.
Two months later, Arkansas officials - backed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders - accused Meta and TikTok of using manipulative features to "hook young users." They filed three lawsuits and relied on the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, ensuring that both used fraudulent strategies to attract minors with harmful content.
More recently, Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Attorney General, Sean Reyes, sued ByteDance for inciting and enticing minors to consume harmful content. Days later, 33 attorneys general sued Meta for spreading content with addictive effects on children.
When Justice sides with social networks
Officials are not always successful when they file lawsuits or promote laws against social networks for harming and being detrimental to minors. In July of last year, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed the Social Media Parental Notification Act into law, so that minors would need their parents' permission to use such platforms.
The social networks countersued and appealed the law until an Ohio district judge decided to temporarily block it this week. The judge determined that the parental permission requirement is an undue burden on the rights of the platform's users.
