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New York City is suing TikTok and Instagram for ‘addicting’ children

The online safety of kids has been a rare unifying policy.

The same set of social media companies faced a lawsuit from a Maryland school district last June that also accused them of contributing to a “mental health crisis.” Dozens of state governments sued Meta last fall for allegedly misleading the public about the harms its services could cause young users. “Just as the surgeon general did with tobacco and guns, we are treating social media like other public health hazards and ensuring that tech companies take responsibility for their products,” the mayor said at the time, according to his prepared remarks. A TikTok spokesperson pointed to what it called the app’s “industry-leading safeguards to support teens’ well-being, including age-restricted features, parental controls, an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18, and more.”

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