New York City’s crazy lawsuit against social media could drain millions of tax dollars

Steve Cuozzo

opinion

by Steve Cuozzo

In a sign that the city’s priorities are dangerously misplaced, the Adams administration last week banned five social media sites — Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok — from treating mental health issues. Nothing compares to the lawsuit he filed that cost the city $100 million. This is probably due to young people’s “addiction” to content.

The city claims the platform is the cause of illnesses that afflict young people, including depression and suicidal thoughts.

But if there’s a death wish in all of this, it’s the city’s.

All of the sites except Snapchat are owned by companies that own vast swaths of Manhattan real estate and have huge fixed assets to maintain services for the metropolis, from the New York City Police Department to the low-profile Art Review Board. paying taxes and other real estate-related taxes.

Mayor Adams’ campaign to punish companies that are accused of harming children is an outrageous outrage.

It’s an effort to shift the conversation away from the city’s actual negative impacts on young people, such as schools that don’t hold classes and rotten public housing that creates an underclass of high school carjackers and murderers.

Of course, the owners of “social” sites are not without answers.

Every political lie they post, every subversive “dating tip,” every disturbing image bordering on child pornography is reason to suppress them.

But it doesn’t help when New York City sues them for cash.

Only laws or regulations originating in Washington can bring them to their knees.

But the tech giants may well reconsider their commitment to the Big Apple over lawsuits that are hugely expensive to defend, even if ineffective and misguided.

If you think companies don’t care that City Hall is intentionally targeting them, Philip Morris USA moved from Park Avenue to Richmond, Virginia, shortly after Michael Bloomberg’s administration enacted strict citywide smoke-free regulations. I want you to remember that.

Both the company and the city, unsurprisingly, denied that the law had anything to do with the decision to withdraw.

And of course the sky is green.

Manhattan’s office buildings support the city’s entire economy.

The real estate taxes they pay are a golden goose for city treasuries, which generate more money from them than Wall Street.

Today’s office market is troubled enough, with vacancy rates reaching an all-time high of 20% and sales prices falling.

The last thing we can afford is to risk forcing out the companies that feed municipal piggy banks and provide tens of thousands of good-paying jobs.

YouTube’s parent company, Google, owns 111 Eighth Avenue. This is a Leviathan that occupies an entire block bounded by 8th Street and his 9th Avenue, and West 15th Street and his 16th Street.

Google’s parent company Alphabet paid the city $54,175,200 in property taxes alone for the building in 2023, according to city assessment and tax data.

Google held a series of grand opening events this week at the St. John’s Terminal Building, 550 Washington Street. The building, purchased two years ago for $2.1 billion, will house thousands of employees.

Governor Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine attended Wednesday’s ribbon cutting.

However, the absence of city hall officials was conspicuous.

Can you blame them for not showing up after the city demanded that Alphabet pay unspecified financial damages and “equitable relief” for preventive education and mental health treatment?

Ironically, the Commercial Observer noted that the St. John’s building has “Big Apple-themed touches, such as the ‘Google’ sculpture in the main hall cavity with embedded text, reminiscent of New York City. It is intended to reflect the company’s commitment to A red “I Love NY” mug, a small Statue of Liberty, and a yellow mini-taxi. ”

Thank you, Eric Adams!

Consider also Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

The company has approximately 2 million square feet of space in Manhattan.

The company leases more than 750,000 square feet in the Farley Building, and the rent it pays there is helping landlord Vornado enable a $1 billion upgrade of Moynihan Train Hall and Penn Station.

Meta is also based at 50 Hudson Yards, making it the tower’s largest user with more than 1 million square feet leased.

And Chinese-owned TikTok, which has faced entirely appropriate scrutiny and political pressure over its dubious content, took over more than 200,000 square feet at 151 West 42nd Street in the dark days of 2020. , it’s worth remembering that he helped stabilize the “ghost town” of Times Square.

Of course, TikTok can go elsewhere if it wishes.

The same goes for meta and alphabet.

If that happens, the city could blame itself for the youth crisis, saying it was entirely of its own making.