“One of the core responsibilities of my office is consumer protection, and there may be no more important consumers than Nevada’s youth,” Ford said in a statement. “Today’s litigation is a necessary step to ensure that our state’s youth are not exploited by social media platforms and that they can grow into adults without the addictive and harmful impacts that these platforms can cause.”
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has filed a lawsuit against Google-owned YouTube, claiming that its policies and practices harm children throughout the state.
Ford has, in the past, filed similar complaints against Meta, TikTok, and Snap. In this most recent filing, Ford’s office alleges that Google-owned YouTube has intentionally created a “highly addictive and harmful platform” that has profoundly negative consequences for children and young adults.
“One of the core responsibilities of my office is consumer protection, and there may be no more important consumers than Nevada’s youth,” Ford said in a statement. “Today’s litigation is a necessary step to ensure that our state’s youth are not exploited by social media platforms and that they can grow into adults without the addictive and harmful impacts that these platforms can cause.”
“I will take every step to protect the children in our great state, and that includes holding accountable those who exploit and harm our youth,” Ford said.
Jose Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, denied the lawsuit’s allegations, saying that YouTube’s parent company regularly works with mental health experts to protect the well-being of its youngest users.
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,” Castañeda 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.”
“The allegations in this complaint are simply not true,” he said.
Ford’s lawsuit against YouTube broadly echoes claims made in related litigation, including a series of allegations made in 2024 against TikTok, Snap, and Meta-owned Facebook.
“All of these platforms use features … to maximize youth use, manipulate young emotions, and exploit children’s developing minds—all for massive financial gain,” Ford said at the time. “Each of these platforms has also been linked to serious dangers to kids, including auto accidents, increases in drug overdoses, suicides, eating disorders, sexual exploitation and more.”
Ford’s lawsuit is by no means unprecedented, with a growing number of states—led by Democratic and Republican attorneys general alike—electing to file suit against social media companies. Last year, for instance, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed his own lawsuit against YouTube, accusing it of violating the state’s public nuisance laws by intentionally curating addictive news feeds.
“YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and advertising revenue,” Griffin’s lawsuit said. “As a result, youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media, and in particular, YouTube.”
Griffin and Ford’s lawsuits both remain pending.
Sources
Arkansas sues YouTube over claims that the site is fueling a mental health crisis
Nevada attorney general files lawsuit against YouTube
Nevada Attorney General targets YouTube with new lawsuit for ‘harmful impacts’ on young users
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