Arkansas sues YouTube over claims that the site is fueling a mental
health crisis
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[October 01, 2024]
By ANDREW DeMILLO
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas sued YouTube and parent company
Alphabet on Monday, saying the video-sharing platform is made
deliberately addictive and fueling a mental health crisis among youth in
the state.
Attorney General Tim Griffin's office filed the lawsuit in state court,
accusing them of violating the state's deceptive trade practices and
public nuisance laws. The lawsuit claims the site is addictive and has
resulted in the state spending millions on expanded mental health and
other services for young people.
“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.”
Alphabet's Google, which owns the video service and is also named as a
defendant in the case, denied the lawsuit's claims.
“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," Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement. “The
allegations in this complaint are simply not true.”
YouTube requires users under 17 to get their parent’s permission before
using the site, while accounts for users younger than 13 must be linked
to a parental account. But it is possible to watch YouTube without an
account, and kids can easily lie about their age.
The lawsuit is the latest in an ongoing push by state and federal
lawmakers to highlight the impact that 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 those now mandatory on
cigarette boxes.
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Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin speaks at a news conference in
downtown Little Rock, Ark., on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. Griffin's
office filed a lawsuit against YouTube and parent company Alphabet,
accusing it of fueling a mental health crisis among youth and being
deliberately addictive. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
Arkansas last year filed similar
lawsuits against TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta, claiming
the social media companies were misleading consumers about the
safety of children on their platforms and protections of users’
private data. Those lawsuits are still pending in state court.
Arkansas also enacted a law requiring parental consent for minors to
create new social media accounts, though 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 in June changed its policies about firearm videos,
prohibiting any videos demonstrating how to remove firearm safety
devices. Under the new policies, videos showing homemade guns,
automatic weapons and certain firearm accessories like silencers
will be restricted to users 18 and older.
Arkansas' lawsuit claims that YouTube's algorithms steer youth to
harmful adult content, and that it facilitates the spread of child
sexual abuse material.
The lawsuit doesn't seek specific damages, but asks that YouTube be
ordered to fund prevention, education and treatment for “excessive
and problematic use of social media.”
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