"San Diego County sues tech companies over social media impacts on youths", 7 February 2025.

San Diego County has sued big tech companies for what it calls the detrimental effects of social media on children and young people, joining a growing nationwide chorus of calls to restrict it.

A lawsuit filed last week accuses the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat of knowingly designing addictive platforms that harm young people’s mental health in order to maximize views and advertising profits, in the process creating a public health and safety crisis and posing a public nuisance...

The move comes amid a decline in the mental health of teens and young adults over the last decade, and a rise in the use of social media. A 2023 Gallup survey found U.S. teens spend on average about five hours on it each day.

That same year, Rady Children’s Hospital reported a 30% jump in children experiencing mental-health crises. Young people age 10 to 24 in San Diego County are now twice as likely as any other age group to visit emergency rooms for anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts, according to county public health data.

The suit alleges that suicidal thoughts and self-harm have skyrocketed since 2010, when social media became nearly universal among teens...

Although hundreds of similar lawsuits against social media platforms are pending nationwide, she said San Diego County’s focuses not only on financial penalties but on demanding change, with court-ordered safeguards

The suit asks the court to require social media apps to stop using “manipulative” engagement features like infinite scroll, autoplay and algorithm-driven rabbit holes that it says exploit young users. It also asks for financial penalties for companies that don’t implement these safeguards.