The city sued the companies behind SnapChat, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
February 14, 2024, 6:17 PM ET
• 5 min read
The City of New York on Wednesday sued the companies behind SnapChat, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, accusing them of fomenting a “nationwide youth mental health crisis” by exposing children “to a nonstop stream of harmful content.”
The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court, alleged the companies intentionally designed their platforms to purposefully manipulate and addict children and teens to social media applications. The lawsuit pointed to the use of algorithms to generate feeds that keep users on the platforms longer and encourage compulsive use.
“Youth are now addicted to Defendants’ platforms in droves, resulting in substantial interference with school district operations and imposing a large burden on cities, school districts and public hospital systems…
