Public nuisance for social media

New York City is suing Meta, Alphabet, Snap, and ByteDance under public‑nuisance and negligence theories, arguing their design choices fueled a youth mental‑health crisis. The 327‑page filing cites algorithmic addiction, teen deaths (e.g., subway surfing), and chronic absenteeism to claim citywide harms and costs. — If courts accept nuisance claims against platform design, governments gain a powerful tort path to regulate recommender systems and recover costs, with downstream impacts on speech, product design, and youth policy.