New York City has filed a major lawsuit against social media companies YouTube, TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat. The city says these companies are creating a mental health crisis among young people by making their platforms addictive on purpose. The 327-page complaint, filed on October 8 in Manhattan federal court, says the companies use young people’s emotions to keep them hooked and make more money.
The lawsuit is one of the biggest legal actions a major U.S. city has taken against social media platforms. New York City has 8.48 million people, and about 1.8 million of them are under 18 years old. The city is joining about 2,050 similar cases across the country. The city’s school system and public hospitals are also part of the lawsuit.
According to Business Insider, city officials say at least 16 teens have died since 2023 while trying subway surfing, which means riding on top of moving trains. The lawsuit connects these deaths directly to social media. It says NYPD investigations found that “the primary motivation of subway surfers is to imitate the subway surfing videos they see on social media, and to collect social media ‘likes.'” Two girls, 12 and 13 years old, died earlier this month while subway surfing in Brooklyn.
Schools and hospitals struggle with mental health problems
The complaint says schools and hospitals have had to spend a lot of money dealing with mental health problems caused by social media use. New York City spends more than $100 million every year on mental health programs and services for young people. The lawsuit wants to get this money back and make the companies pay for the damage they caused.
In January 2024, NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said social media is a public health danger. This made New York the first major U.S. city to make this kind of announcement. The health department report showed that between 2011 and 2021, feelings of hopelessness among high school students went up by more than 42 percent. Thoughts about suicide also increased by more than 34 percent.
New data shows that 77.3 percent of NYC high school students spend three or more hours every day looking at screens. For girls, that number goes up to 82.1 percent. The lawsuit says teachers and other school workers are getting burned out from helping students who are in crisis. The legal action happens as more people worry about dangerous viral challenges spreading across different platforms.
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the claims against YouTube are not true. He said people misunderstand how YouTube works. He explained that YouTube is a streaming service where people watch videos, not a social network where people connect with friends. Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat said their platforms have safety features and tools that let parents control what young users can see.
More and more states and cities across the country are taking legal action against tech companies over concerns about how social media affects young people’s mental health.
Published: Oct 10, 2025 11:55 am