New York City has launched a sweeping legal assault against the world’s biggest social media companies, accusing them of deliberately hooking children on their platforms and fueling a worsening mental health crisis.
In a 327-page filing submitted to a Manhattan federal court, the city named Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google (YouTube), Snap (Snapchat), and ByteDance (TikTok) as defendants. The lawsuit accuses the companies of “gross negligence” and creating a “public nuisance,” claiming their platforms were designed to exploit young users’ brains and keep them endlessly scrolling for profit.
The case adds New York City to a rapidly expanding wave of lawsuits—more than 2,000 in total—brought by states, school districts, and communities across the United States, all targeting social media’s role in youth mental health struggles.
City officials say the problem is staggering. With 1.8 million residents under 18, New York has seen rising anxiety, depression, and sleep deprivation among teens. The complaint cites data showing more than three-quarters of high school students, and over 80% of girls, spend at least three hours daily glued to screens. The city’s health commissioner has already declared social media a “public health hazard.”
The filing also links the platforms to a disturbing trend: “subway surfing,” where teens ride outside speeding trains in search of online fame. Sixteen young people have died since 2023, including two girls aged 12 and 13 just this month.
A Google spokesperson pushed back, saying the claims against YouTube are “simply not true,” arguing it operates as a video streaming platform rather than a social network. The other companies have not yet responded publicly.
City officials say they withdrew from an earlier state-level case to join the broader federal effort, aiming for greater impact against what they call a “national epidemic of digital dependency.”
“Defendants should be held to account for the harms their conduct has inflicted,” the city’s complaint declares. “As it stands now, New York and its taxpayers are left to clean up the damage.”
