New York City Mayor Eric Adams designated social media as a “public health hazard” and an environmental toxin as his city struggles with crime and a surge in illegal immigrants in a speech on Wednesday.
Adams claimed that platforms like TikTok and YouTube are “fueling a mental health crisis by designing their platforms with addictive and dangerous features” and bragged about leading the first city to treat social media like “tobacco and guns.”
The mayor chose to take on social media while his city struggles to deal with the more than 150,000 migrants that have arrived since spring 2022 and increasing violent crime, like the more than 4,500 stabbings in 2023.
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Adams’ health department issued an official advisory designating social media as an “environmental toxin,” according to the mayor’s Twitter account.
In a post to social media, the mayor compared social media to cigarettes.
While Adams rails against social media, some crimes are on the rise in New York, and the city is facing budget issues stemming from its ongoing migrant crisis.
Stabbings, assaults, and grand larceny all increased in New York City between 2022 and 2023, Fox 5 New York reported. While homicides decreased from 438 murders in 2022 to 386 in 2023, the total remains above the pre-pandemic figure of 318 homicides, according to Reuters.
As crime rises in some areas, Adams is cutting the New York Police Department’s budget, the New York Post reported. Cuts to the police budget are the result of the ongoing costs of providing for illegal immigrants in the city.
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The city estimates accommodating these migrants will cost $12 billion over the next three years.
The city has cut funding for trash removal, libraries and public safety, among other things, as it copes with the costs of the migrant crisis, Politico reported.
The migrant crisis has fed into the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis, according to the NYT. More than 92,000 homeless people were in New York City as of November 2023.
Adams’ problems extend beyond handling the various dilemmas facing his city.
Federal authorities are investigating New York’s mayor in connection with allegations that he worked with the Turkish government to steer foreign donations into his campaign account.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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