Boston sues social media companies over addictive design features targeting minors
Boston joined a nationwide lawsuit against social media companies including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, alleging they deliberately designed addictive features using AI algorithms to target children and harm their mental health. The city cited data showing a significant rise in high school students reporting persistent sadness correlated with increased social media use.
What happened
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced on Wednesday that the City of Boston had joined a lawsuit against Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and other social media platforms, filing in federal court in the Northern District of California on behalf of Boston's 46,000 public school students.
The lawsuit alleges that social media companies have deliberately designed platforms with addictive features, including endless scrolling, frequent notifications, and personalized algorithms driven by artificial intelligence, to target minors and maximize engagement at the expense of children's mental health.
The case was consolidated with nearly 1,500 other school district complaints filed since October 2022, accusing the companies of exploiting children 'to drive corporate profit.'
Reported impact
Boston Public Schools documented a significant increase in student mental health needs directly tied to social media use over the past decade.
According to a 2024 Boston Public Health Commission report, the percentage of high school students reporting persistent sadness rose from 26.7 percent in 2015 to 43.9 percent in 2021.
In response, Boston Public Schools expanded mental health resources from six social workers and 48 school psychologists in 2007 to 240 social workers and 105 school psychologists.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.