New York Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday his administration has filed a lawsuit against social media companies, including Facebook and Meta Platforms’ Instagram, for fueling the youth mental health crisis.
The complaint, filed in California Superior Court, also includes YouTube (Alphabet), Snapchat (Snap Inc.) and TikTok (ByteDance), and alleges that the companies intentionally designed their platforms to “manipulate children and adolescents and addictive to social media applications.
Meta, TikTok and YouTube are already the subject of hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of children and school districts due to the addictive nature of social media.
“Over the past decade, we have seen how the online world can be addictive and overwhelming, exposing our children to an endless stream of harmful content and fueling our national youth mental health crisis ” Adams said in a statement.
Social media companies are facing increased scrutiny from regulators, who are pushing them to protect children from harmful content.
Last month, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, apologized to families during a US Senate hearing on the impact of social media on children.
The companies did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
2024-02-14 22:49:22
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