The City of New York in the USA has become the latest government to legally pursue big tech companies for purportedly getting children addicted to their platforms.

On Monday 12 February 2024, several New York City agencies, including the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Department of Education, raised a lawsuit against Google, Instagram, Snapchat, Meta, and TikTok, accusing them of “fueling the nationwide youth mental health crisis.”

The city consequently charged them with public nuisance and negligence.

New York City says that these platforms’ have design features – inclusive of recommendation algorithms and likes – which addict children to their services and as a result manipulate them into spending more and more time online.

The lawsuit now joins a growing surge of legal proceedings from state and local governments taking aim at tech platforms for allegedly addictive attributes which are deceptive and harmful to children.

Many state governments also sued Meta last autumn, for allegedly misleading the public about the detriment its services could cause to children.


SOURCE:
https://naijaphilia.com/blog/2024/02/21/global-lens-new-york-city-is-suing-google-instagram-snapchat-facebook-tiktok-for-addicting-kids/