LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The social media giant YouTube is being sued by Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford's office for allegedly being harmful for children.
The civil lawsuit — which was announced Monday — alleges that YouTube and its corporate parents, Google LLC and Alphabet Inc., have deliberately engaged in deceptive practices through "product design choices and public misrepresentations" that target children using their platform.
Ford's office claims these practices cater to a highly addictive online environment, mental health problems such as depression and negative body images, and the physical health and well-being of children.
In a release sent to Channel 13, Ford said in a statement:
"One of the core responsibilities of my office is consumer protection, and there may be no more important consumers than Nevada’s youth. 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 claims that YouTube, and many other forms of social media, manipulate young users by trying to keep them on the platform for as long as possible, through means including:
- An endless scrolling list of videos
- Algorithmic targeting based on brain chemistry
- Prioritizing content based "likes"
- Constant notifications
- Disappearing content
- Ineffective parental controls
Ford further claims these practices are the driving force behind company profits, citing $31.5 billion generated by YouTube in 2023 alone.
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The claims from the state's top prosecutor were refuted by YouTube's parent company. After we reached out to YouTube, a Google spokesperson told us the suit's allegations "are simply not true," citing their efforts to give young users safe, healthy experiences and parents more control over their child's usage of the platform.
You can read the full statement from Google spokesperson José Castañeda below:
“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.”
This is not the first time the attorney general's office has filed litigation against social media companies, nor is it the first public institution to go after online platforms. In 2024, Ford's office filed civil actions against TikTok, Snapchat and Meta platforms — Instagram, Facebook and Messenger — for similar claims about harmful effects on children.
Those cases are moving forward to trial, according to Ford, with the first among them — Snapchat — scheduled to start in January 2027.
