"Inevitably, kids are going to be led down these rabbit holes,"
"A prerequisite, or a condition to these kinds of subway surfing challenges and subway surfing behavior is kids that have an addictive, unhealthy relationship with social media."
"It's so easy for them to meet new people on Instagram and get friendship together right away ... These kids, they meet online, they talk two, three sentence, they become friends."
"If it were child pornography, they would figure out how to shut it down."
Two children, Zemfira Mukhtarov, 12, and Ebba Morina, 13, died while riding atop a J train in Williamsburg in October. Those were the fourth and fifth subway surfing fatalities this year; six people died last year and five in 2023. Social media platforms pledged in 2023 to remove subway surfing content after criticism from the MTA and the mayor, but dangerous content and challenges persist. An attorney representing a victim's mother attributed the trend to online clout and addictive social media. Zemfira posted risky videos and her father said she met peers quickly on Instagram.
Read at Gothamist
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