New York City Council has filed a lawsuit against four of the world’s largest technology companies — Meta, Alphabet, Snap and ByteDance — accusing them of contributing to a mental health epidemic among teenagers.
The action, presented on Wednesday (8) and revealed by Business Insiderpoints out that platforms deliberately exploit young people’s psychological vulnerabilities to increase usage time and engagement.
According to the lawsuit, the companies had created a “public nuisance”, transforming digital addiction into a public health issue. Social media algorithms, says the city hall, are designed to keep users glued to their screens, even if this results in sleep disturbances, school dropouts and an increase in risky behaviors.
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One of the examples cited is the so-called “subway surfing”, a deadly practice of surfing on moving trains that went viral on the internet. Since 2023, at least 16 teenagers have died in incidents related to the phenomenon, including two girls aged 12 and 13, according to New York police data included in the process.
The city’s Legal Department argues that the impact of social networks goes beyond individual behavior, affecting the functioning of public schools and hospitals that are facing an increase in demand for psychological treatment. Therefore, the New York School District and the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation also became co-authors of the action.
The sued companies control some of the most popular platforms among young people: Meta (owner of Instagram and Facebook), Alphabet (responsible for YouTube and Google), Snap (creator of Snapchat) and ByteDance, owner of TikTok, which, under pressure from the Trump administration, is negotiating its sale to American groups.
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In a statement, Google contested the accusations. “These lawsuits misunderstand how YouTube works. The allegations are simply not true,” said José Castañeda, a company spokesman.
He highlighted that YouTube “is a streaming service, not a social network”, aimed at the consumption of long videos, sports and podcasts, not interactions between users.
New York’s action expands the legal siege against big tech in the USA, at a time when the debate is growing about the effects of social networks on the mental health and education of young people.
