The city of New York filed a complaint with the California Supreme Court on Wednesday against five of the largest social networks for “encouraging a mental health crisis among minors throughout the nation.” In his writing, he points out TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube.
“Our city was built on innovation and technology, but many social networks endanger children’s mental health, promote addictions and encourage unhealthy behaviors,” explained the mayor of the US capital, Eric Adams.
The person in charge assures that his executive alone spends one hundred million dollars a year on youth mental health treatment programs.
“Today we are acting on behalf of millions of New Yorkers to hold these companies accountable for their role in this crisis,” said the mayor, after formalizing the complaint before the Supreme Court of California, the state where the majority of technology companies are based.
His complaint describes some of the tactics of social networks, such as “the use of algorithms to keep users connected and encourage compulsive use”, the design of game-like mechanisms in the design of applications and the abuse of “reciprocity” or making the user feel the need to interact with the application.
On January 24, New York City declared social networks “mental health threats” and equated them in their dangerousness with drugs and weapons.
“We cannot stand by and let big technology companies monetize the privacy of our children,” the mayor then stressed, relying on a report from the Department of Mental Health that said that 77% of high school students spend three hours or more up to date in front of a screen in their leisure time.
New York is not the first big city to file a complaint against five large technology companies. Another 41 states that reported Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) for the same reasons last October.
