What began as something unprecedented seems to be on its way to becoming an avalanche whose consequences cannot yet be known: the City of New York filed a lawsuit against the giants that manage the main social networks for considering them “addictive and dangerous” and for feeding a children's mental health crisis that is impacting learning and straining resources.
The 311-page lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of California, where the New York City companies, its schools and its public hospital system are based.
They claim that children and adolescents are especially susceptible to the damage that Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, among other platforms, can cause because their brains are not fully developed.
“Young people are addicted en masse to the defendants' platforms,” they say.
New York is the largest school district in the United States: it has nearly one million students.
And its authorities assure that they had to face the problems generated by social networks inside and outside the classroom.
For example, providing counseling for anxiety and depression and developing lesson plans on the effects of social media and how to stay safe online.
According to Mayor Eric Adams' office, they spend more than $100 million on mental health programs and services for youth each year.
“Over the last decade we have seen how addictive and overwhelming the online world can be, exposing our children to a relentless stream of harmful content and fueling our national youth mental health crisis,” Adams said.
The lawsuit joins several others filed by states, school districts and other entities alleging that social media companies exploit children and teens by deliberately designing features that cause them to compulsively check their accounts.
School districts in Seattle and California had already filed legal appeals.
Therefore, it is estimated that this could be the beginning of an avalanche of complaints against technology companies.
The lawsuit from the City of New York, its Department of Education and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (the largest public hospital system in the country) demands that the companies' conduct be declared disorderly conduct, as well as as unspecified damages.
They explain that teenagers know they spend too much time on social media, but they are powerless to stop doing so.
In their responses to the lawsuit, the technology companies say they have developed and continue to develop and enforce policies and controls that emphasize user security.
Asked by the AP agency, Google spokesperson José Castañeda responded that the company has collaborated with experts in youth, mental health and parenting.
A TikTok spokesperson cited similar regular collaborations to understand best practices in the face of industry challenges: “TikTok has industry-leading safety measures to support the well-being of teens, including age restriction features, parental controls, a automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18, and much more.”
Virtually all American teens use social media, with about one in six teens describing their use of YouTube and TikTok as “almost constant,” according to the Pew Research Center.
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram, said the company wants “teens to have safe, age-appropriate online experiences, and we have more than 30 tools and features to help them and their parents.
"We've spent a decade working on these issues and hiring people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe and supported online."
A statement from Snap Inc, Snapchat's parent company, said its app is intentionally different from others for the reason that it "opens directly to a camera — rather than a constant content update that encourages passive scrolling." — and has no traditional public likes or comments.”
"While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they navigate the many challenges of adolescence," the statement said.
With information from AP
ACE