New York City is suing the companies that own TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube, alleging the social media sites are driving a spike in mental health issues among young people, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court, aims to force the companies to change their practices and cover the costs of addressing what city officials deem a public health threat. Adams’ office said the city currently spends more than $100 million a year on mental health programs for young people, though the suit doesn’t specify how much the administration is seeking in damages.
“Instead of learning confidence and resilience, they are being exposed to content that often leads to insecurity and depression,” Adams said at a press conference. “The features that keep young people clicking in these dark corners of social media have fueled an alarming rise in online bullying, depression, eating disorders and suicidal ideation.”
The percentage of New York City students who reported feeling sadness and hopelessness or having thoughts of self-harm increased from 2011 and 2021, with non-White, female and LGBTQ students more likely to be affected, according to a report released by the city’s health department in November. Nearly 40% of high school students reported feeling so sad or hopeless in the past year that they stopped engaging in their usual activities, the report found.
The lawsuit links these figures and social media use, noting that in 2021, over three-quarters of the city’s high school students said they spent at least three hours a day on average “in front of screens — not including [time] spent on schoolwork.”
“Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used in slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, Defendants deliberately embedded in their platforms an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” the complaint reads….
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