{"id":225905,"date":"2026-05-09T20:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/225905\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:50:08","slug":"nyc-dad-files-50-million-lawsuit-against-acs-meta-after-teens-fatal-stabbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/225905\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC dad files $50 million lawsuit against ACS, Meta after teen’s fatal stabbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tech giant Meta is partly responsible for the alleged murder of an NYC teen,<\/a> whose killer relentlessly harassed her online before her death, her devastated dad said in a $50 million lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The alleged killer, a 15-year-old unsupervised foster kid, launched a month-long cyberbullying campaign against Emery Lynn Mizell, 17, via Meta Platforms-owned Instagram, which has \u201cactively concealed\u201d the dangers of the platform, the victim\u2019s father, Tony Mizell, claimed.<\/p>\n

The culmination of the harassment came on May 2, 2024 when the 15-year-old girl fatally stabbed her in the chest as she walked home from school in Soundview, according to the Bronx Supreme Court case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tragedy was entirely preventable,\u201d Mizell said in court papers, which also blames the city Administration for Children\u2019s Services, which he claims did nothing to discipline the unhinged teen or lift a finger to intervene. <\/p>\n

Emery was walking home from school in the Bronx when she was stabbed in the chest, allegedly by another teen. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, first filed in March and moved this week into Manhattan Federal Court, comes weeks after a California jury dished out a $6 million verdict against Meta and found the company liable for one young woman\u2019s social media addiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cyberbullying campaign that preceded and precipitated Emery\u2019s murder was conducted
through Instagram, a platform that Defendant Meta Platforms, Inc. has deliberately designed to be
addictive to teenagers,\u201d Mizell argued in the lawsuit. <\/p>\n

Instagram\u2019s algorithms boost \u201charmful and inflammatory\u201d content, while the app helps \u201ccreate compulsive checking behavior\u201d and creates \u201caddictive feedback loops,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeta failed to adequately warn users, parents, and the public about the known dangers of Instagram, including its addictive nature and its facilitation of bullying and harassment among teenage users,\u201d the dad said in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The suspect and the victim had not met in person, and only had contact via social media, said Mizell, who marked the second anniversary of her death last week with a balloon release and dozens of the girl\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter told the girl to just leave her alone, \u2018I don\u2019t want any problems with you,\u2019 but the girl kept going,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mizell\u2019s younger daughter sleeps in the living room, to be close to the family\u2019s shrine to Emery. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Meta \u201chas long known, facilitates and amplifies bullying and harassment among its youngest users,\u201d according to court papers. <\/p>\n

The aspiring nursing student\u2019s brutal slaying was \u201ca direct and proximate result\u201d of Meta\u2019s negligence \u2014 and ACS\u2019s failure to monitor<\/a> and intervene with their seriously troubled young charge, the dad alleged. <\/p>\n

ACS \u201cshould have known\u201d the suspect, identified in the legal filing only as RH, had \u201cviolent propensities and history of aggressive behavior,\u201d and failed to protect the public or intervene \u201cdespite clear warning signs of escalating violence,\u201d he alleged in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is about accountability, holding the defendants \u2014 particularly Meta \u2014 accountable so this doesn\u2019t happen to other children in this city, state and country,\u201d said attorney Sanford Rubenstein, who reps Mizell alongside lawyer Mark David Shirian. \u201cWhat this father hopes is that it will prevent other deaths by calling attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is evidence to show there was zero to little oversight over these children. It raises questions about what\u2019s going on in this agency,\u201d Shirian added of ACS.<\/p>\n

The distraught dad is suing Meta Platforms, the city, the Administration for Children\u2019s Services and others for $50 million. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Emery, the oldest of four kids, was a month away from graduating Metropolitan Soundview High School when she was killed.<\/p>\n

Her 15-year-old sister Gianna now sleeps each night in the living room, to be near her slain sister\u2019s cremated remains which are kept in a memorial at their home, Mizell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy world\u2019s totally upside down,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a parents worst nightmare. I\u2019m scared for my other daughter. I\u2019ve not slept in the last two years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meta claimed it has strict company policies against bullying, harassment and threats, and regularly removes such content. In January 2024, Meta also began limiting teens to the strictest messaging settings, so they could only get messages from those they know, the company said.<\/p>\n

\u201cACS is committed to providing the highest quality care and support to children and youth in our care. We are currently reviewing this lawsuit with the Law Department,\u201d an ACS spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tech giant Meta is partly responsible for the alleged murder of an NYC teen, whose killer relentlessly harassed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3775,303,84290,1027,3956,2850,57,9,56,63,65,64,4730,58],"class_list":["post-225905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-administration-for-childrens-services","tag-crime","tag-cyber-bullying","tag-homicide","tag-instagram","tag-lawsuits","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-teens","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}