New York City has gone to war with Silicon Valley, accusing the world’s biggest tech companies of fueling a youth mental health crisis by making their platforms intentionally addictive.
In a 327-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, the city is suing Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Google (YouTube), Snap (Snapchat), and ByteDance (TikTok) for what it calls “gross negligence” and “public nuisance.”
The complaint claims the companies “exploited the psychology and neurophysiology of youth” to keep kids scrolling endlessly, and that New York’s school and healthcare systems are now left to clean up the mess.
“Defendants should be held to account for the harms their conduct has inflicted,” the city said. “As it stands now, plaintiffs are left to abate the nuisance and foot the bill.”
New York joins a wave of 2,000+ similar lawsuits filed across the US, part of a growing legal push to hold tech companies responsible for the social fallout of their products.
City officials say the impact is visible everywhere — from sleepless students to rising absenteeism. The complaint cites data showing 77% of high schoolers spend at least three hours a day on screens, often at the expense of rest, focus, and real-life social interaction.
It even links social media trends to deadly “subway surfing” stunts, where teens ride atop or cling to moving trains: 16 deaths since 2023, including two girls just this month.
The city’s health commissioner already declared social media a public health hazard last year, warning that its effects on children mirror those of smoking and junk food epidemics in earlier decades.
A spokesperson for New York’s law department said the city withdrew from a separate lawsuit announced by Mayor Eric Adams in 2024 to join the broader federal case, which could have a far bigger national impact.
Tech companies are, unsurprisingly, pushing back.
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda told reporters the allegations against YouTube are “simply not true,” arguing that YouTube is a “streaming service, not a social network” where users connect with friends.
Meta, Snap, and ByteDance declined to comment.
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