Meta, TikTok can be sued by mother of teen killed while subway surfing

A lawsuit against wrongful death has been filed against Meta Platforms and ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, after a 15-year-old boy lost his life while “subway surfing” on a moving train, Reuters reported.

 

A New York state judge, Justice Paul Goetz, ruled on Friday that Norma Nazario, the mother of the deceased, can try to prove that both Meta and ByteDance “goaded” her son Zackery into subway surfing by getting him addicted to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where Zackery viewed content about “dangerous challenges”. 

Meta and ByteDance have previously faced thousands of lawsuits, along with Snapchat, accusing the platforms of being addictive and causing harm to children, schools, and governments. 

 

Zackery Nazario died on February 20, 2023, after he and his girlfriend climbed on top of a Brooklyn-bound J train as it crossed the Williamsburg Bridge. According to Zackery's mother, a low beam struck him, causing him to fall between subway cars, which then ran over him. His mother also claimed that she found several videos related to subway surfing on her son's social media accounts.

 

Meta, ByteDance term Zackery’s death “heartbreaking” 

While Meta and ByteDance seek immunity from user content under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act and the free speech clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, Justice Goetz ruled that Zackery’s mother can try to prove her son was targeted because of his age. He wrote, “Based on the allegations in the complaint. It is plausible that the social media defendants’ role exceeded that of neutral assistance in promoting content, and constituted active identification of users who would be most impacted.”

 

The Manhattan judge, however, dismissed her claims against New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, stating that common sense and “the realities of life in this city” should have stopped Zackery from pursuing subway surfing.

 

The report, citing data from the New York Police, noted that at least six people died from subway surfing in 2024.