Mayor Eric Adams is blaming social media companies for what he calls a mental health crisis amongst the city's youth.

At a press conference Wednesday, Adams announced that the city is suing five social media companies in hopes they will regulate what children are exposed to online.

“Age verification is one example. Linking parent and child accounts is another standard tool in our framework for action or action plan. We have a list of changes we want,” Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the commissioner of the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said Wednesday.

Norma Nazario's son Zachary died while riding on the outside of a train, a dangerous social media trend often called subway surfing. She partially blames the internet for her son’s death.

“Very, very depressed. They get depressed. They get anxiety. They cannot be without social media,” Nazario said.

The city says there has been a 40% increase in high school students reporting sadness and hopelessness. Emergency room visits for anxiety disorders are up nearly 120%.

The city is suing Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said that they want teenagers to have “safe, age-appropriate experiences online.”

“We have over 30 tools and features to support them and their parents. We’ve spent a decade working on these issues and hiring people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe and supported online,” the statement said.

Last month, Vasan declared social media a public health hazard. The city says they spend more than $100 million on youth mental health programs and services each year.