Arkansas filed a lawsuit Monday against YouTube and its parent entity, Alphabet, alleging that the platform intentionally promotes addictive behaviors that exacerbate mental health issues among youth.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a lawsuit in Phillips County Circuit Court against Google LLC, YouTube LLC, XXVI Holdings, Inc., and their parent company, Alphabet, Inc for allegedly breaching the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by engaging in deceptive and detrimental business practices targeting young users, according to the complaint. It contends that the platform’s addictive nature has necessitated millions in state expenditures on expanded mental health services for young individuals.
“YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and advertising revenue,” the lawsuit said. “As a result, youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media, and in particular, YouTube.”
As of 2020, the number of deaths from suicide in the state was over four times higher than those from alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents and suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death among the state’s youth, the complaint added. Additionally, the rate of teen suicide in Arkansas surpasses the national average and has been increasing across numerous counties in the state.
Alphabet’s subsidiary Google, which owns YouTube and is also a defendant, refuted the allegations.
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. The allegations in this complaint are simply not true,” a Google spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Seattle Public Schools also filed a lawsuit against the operators of TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook in January 2023, accusing them of designing their platforms to be addictive and exacerbating mental health crises among students. The district claims this has compelled them to train teachers in recognizing and responding to signs of poor mental health and to educate students on the risks associated with social media use.
YouTube requires parental consent for users under 17, and accounts for children under 13 must be linked to a parent’s account, the AP reported. Despite these measures, the site can still be accessed without an account, enabling users to misrepresent their age.
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