New York Again Sues Meta, TikTok, and Other Platforms in Fight Over Social Media

A person uses a cellphone on a subway platform with the Manhattan midtown skyline in the distance. (Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty Images)

Key Points

• New York City, its Department of Education, and Health and Hospitals Corporation sued Meta, Alphabet’s Google, Snap, and ByteDance in federal court.
• The lawsuit alleges social media platforms caused a youth mental-health crisis, seeking company payments for related costs incurred by the city.
• The city’s move means it will pursue its claim in federal court, rather than state court.

New York City has sued some of the largest social media companies in federal court, saying their platforms targeted young people regardless of the risk that users would become addicted, marking a twist in a continuing legal fight.

The city of New York, the New York Department of Education, and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google, Snap, and ByteDance. Schools, hospitals, and the public health system have had to spend money addressing a mental-health crisis caused by the platforms, the suit says.

The plaintiffs are looking for the companies to pay for those costs.

The lawsuit is the latest development in an effort to hold companies responsible for what New York says is the damage resulting from their products.

The city filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in February 2024 that sought to hold TikTok, Meta, Snap, and YouTube, which is part of Google, accountable for allegedly creating addictive algorithms that have led to a mental-health crisis among teens.

A spokesman for the New York City Law Department told Barron’s on Thursday that the city determined it was in its best interest to withdraw from the multi-district state litigation it joined in 2024, which is currently pending in California appeals court, and file a comparable case in the Southern District of New York**.**

“This new case will allow us to litigate our claims as part of the multi-district federal litigation currently pending in the Northern District of California,” the spokesman said.

“Defendants deliberately embedded in their platforms an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” Wednesday’s lawsuit says. “Defendants know children and adolescents are in a developmental stage that leaves them particularly vulnerable to the addictive effects of these features. Defendants target them anyway, in pursuit of additional profit.”

Shares of Meta were up 1.1% on Thursday while Alphabet stock dropped 1.7%. Snap stock declined 1.2%. The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower.

In a statement to Barron’s, a Google spokesperson said that “these lawsuits fundamentally misunderstand how YouTube works and the allegations are simply not true.” Google provides tools, like Supervised Experiences for young people, “guided by child safety experts, that give families control,” the spokesperson said.

None of the other defendants immediately responded to requests for comment.

There are safeguards such as age verification and parental supervision in place on most social media platforms to protect young people from the negative effects of social media. But the New York lawsuit alleges that these tools are deficient, and create the illusion of control, for parents.

Discussions regarding the effects of social media on young people have been going on for years. The United States Surgeon General released a social media advisory in 2023, saying “excessive and problematic social media use, such as compulsive or uncontrollable use, has been linked to sleep problems, attention problems, and feelings of exclusion among adolescents.”

Last year, Australia passed a law that is meant to prevent children under the age of 16 from using certain social media platforms. Denmark is also looking to possibly ban social media for children under the age of 15.

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com