Arkansas sues YouTube for being too “addictive” & causing “mental health problems”

TikTok isn’t the only social platform facing legal issues lately. YouTube has found itself in the crosshairs of the state of Arkansas, which claims the video-sharing site does more harm than good.

The state filed a lawsuit against both YouTube and its parent company, Alphabet (which also owns Google) in September 2024, arguing that the site deliberately contributes to the growing mental health crises among its youth population.

“YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and advertising revenue,” the lawsuit reads. “As a result, youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media, and in particular, YouTube.”

No specified monetary damages are laid out in Arkansas’ suit, but it does request that YouTube foot the bill for programs to educate and prevent “excessive and problematic use of social media.”

However, Google denies these claims, with spokesperson Jose Castaneda arguing that the allegations in the state’s complaint are “simply not true.”

“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,” he said. “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.”

YouTube isn’t the first social platform to be targeted by Araknsas; the state similarly sued TikTok and Meta, Facebook’s parent company, claiming the sites were “misleading” users about child safety measures and privacy protections, as reported by KOB 4.

YouTube is just the latest platform to come under fire after TikTok found itself at the center of several lawsuits due to the deaths of children from the “blackout challenge” after they reportedly tried the trend upon seeing it on the app.

TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat were also hit with a $4.5 billion lawsuit from Canadian schools who claimed the sites “disrupt the education system” in the country earlier this year.