New York City is taking legal action against several social media companies it accuses of being responsible for causing the mental health crisis in youth across the country.
“I agree with the Mayor’s Office, that they sue them,” says Judith Díaz, mother of the family.
“It is harming all children. Children and also adults. Even the elderly,” he adds.
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube are the five social media platforms that the Mayor’s Office, supported by several of its departments, seeks to sue because they believe that the companies are generating a youth mental health crisis nationwide.
The lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court and the district alleges that the aforementioned companies designed their platforms to manipulate and addict children and adolescents to social media.
The Mayor’s Office assures that more than 100 million dollars are invested annually in mental health programs and services for youth.
They say that rates of low self-esteem, depression and self-harm will continue to grow as long as social networks do not have efficient controls.
Parents in Upper Manhattan agree:
“It’s not like before when you went to the park and played in the park for a long time. And now all, all the children spend their time playing on their phone or tablet. That is very worrying,” says José Luis Reynoso, father of the family.
“The violence, the things that are happening that sometimes children should not have access to. But since it is on the networks, we have no control over what they are seeing and that is what worries the most,” says Tirsa García, mother of the family.
In response to the Mayor’s announcement on Wednesday, the company Meta, owner of the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms, said:
“We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate online experiences, and we have more than 30 tools and features to help them and their parents.”
For its part, the TikTok platform shares:
“TikTok has industry-leading safeguards to support the well-being of teens, including age-restricted features, parental controls, an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18, and more.”
However, parents insist that social networks affect their children’s growth:
“They know about technology, yes, it’s true, but they don’t know how to say “oh, I can peel a banana, I can wash or I go, God knows, a lot.”
And, in addition to the lawsuit, the City has launched an action plan that aims to educate and support young people and their families, as well as investigate the long-term impact that social networks have.
