by Arkansas on Monday sued YouTube and parent company Alphabet, saying the video-sharing platform was deliberately made addictive and fueling a mental health crisis among the state’s youth.
Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office filed the lawsuit in state court, accusing them of violating the state’s deceptive business practices and public nuisance laws. The lawsuit claims the site is addictive and has led to the state spending millions on comprehensive mental health and other services for youth.
“YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and ad revenue,” the lawsuit says. “As a result, young people’s mental health issues have evolved in line with the growth of social media, and YouTube in particular.”
Alphabet’s Google, owner of the video service and also named as a defendant in the case, denied the lawsuit’s claims.
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been at the core of our work. “Working with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we developed services and policies to provide age-appropriate experiences for youth and robust controls for parents,” Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement. declaration. “The allegations in this complaint are simply not true.”
YouTube requires users under the age of 17 to have parental permission before using the site, while accounts for users under the age of 13 must be linked to a parental account. But it is possible to watch YouTube without an account, and children can easily lie about their age.
The lawsuit is the latest in an ongoing effort by state and federal lawmakers to highlight the impact social media sites have on younger users. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in June called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms about their effects on young people’s lives, similar to the labels now required on cigarette boxes.
Arkansas filed similar lawsuits against TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta last year, alleging that the social media companies misled consumers about the safety of children on their platforms and the protection of users’ private information. These lawsuits are still pending in national court.
Arkansas also passed a law requiring parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts, although that measure has been blocked by a federal judge.
Along with TikTok, YouTube is one of the most popular sites for children and teens. Both sites have been questioned in the past for hosting and in some cases promoting videos that encourage gun violence, eating disorders and self-harm.
YouTube changed its policy on firearms videos in June, banning videos that demonstrate how to remove firearm safety features. Under the new policy, videos featuring homemade weapons, automatic weapons, and certain firearm accessories such as silencers are restricted to users 18 years and older.
The Arkansas lawsuit alleges that YouTube’s algorithms direct young people to harmful adult content and facilitate the spread of child sexual abuse material.
The lawsuit does not seek specific damages, but asks that YouTube be ordered to fund prevention, education, and treatment of “excessive and problematic social media use.”
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