New York City sues social media companies for allegedly addicting children

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York City filed a new lawsuit accusing Facebook, Google, Snapchat, TikTok and other online platforms of fueling a mental health crisis among children by addicting them to social media. Wednesday's 327-page complaint in Manhattan federal court seeks damages from Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms, Google and YouTube owner Alphabet, Snapchat owner Snap and TikTok owner ByteDance. It accuses the defendants of gross negligence and causing a public nuisance. The city joined other governments, school districts and individuals pursuing approximately 2,050 similar lawsuits, in nationwide litigation in the Oakland, California, federal court. New York City is among the largest plaintiffs, with a population of 8.48 million, including about 1.8 mill