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The head of the MTA warned Wednesday that tech giant Meta needs to “get on the stick” about taking down social media videos of subway-surfing daredevils riding on top of trains.
With five deaths so far in 2025 from subway surfing, Lieber singled out Instagram — operated by Meta — as the platform where “subway surfing videos do get to live for too long.”
“They should have the capacity to shut this down,” Lieber said of the company. “If it were child pornography, they would figure out how to shut it down.”
The father of 12-year-old Zemfira Mukhtarov told THE CITY that social media companies bear some responsibility for the scourge of subway surfing.
“Whatever she was doing, she learned this from social media,” said Ruslan Mukhtarov, 48. The youngest of his two kids had been looking forward to a milestone birthday shortly before her death.
“She told me, ‘Papa I’m so happy that I’m going to be a teenager in two weeks.’”
Read more here about how the MTA boss pressured the tech giant.
Weather ⛅
Warmer, finally! Mostly sunny with a high in the low 50s.
MTA 🚇
There will be no service between Kings Highway and Brighton Beach on the B train between 9:45 a.m. and 3 p.m today. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.
Alternate side parking 🚙
It’s in effect today, Thursday, Dec. 18.
By the way…
Know a city kid who may need a boost paying for college? Read our guide on how the city’s college savings account program works.
Our Other Top Stories
A longtime union leader has been tapped to run incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, which will play a crucial role in building political support for some of his biggest — and costliest — campaign promises.
For more than three years, public housing tenants of the James Weldon Johnson Houses in East Harlem have lived in a state of terror wrought by a crew of narcotics dealers who transformed their NYCHA development into an open-air drug market, prosecutors alleged Wednesday. This is what they found.
Dunkin’ has overtaken Starbucks in Manhattan, Forever 21 has said goodbye to NYC forever and, overall, chain stores have shrunk their footprint in the city.
Reporter’s Notebook
Oh, Rats!
Mayor Eric Adams’s “war on rats” could continue even after he leaves City Hall with an office newly established (in the last two weeks of his term) to root them out.
The rat-hating mayor, who is currently on vacation in Mexico, signed an executive order Tuesday to officially create the “Office of Rodent Mitigation.” The director of this office will make recommendations and coordinate with other agencies on how to get rid of rats.
The mayor appointed a “rat czar” in April 202 and tasked that person with getting rid of the city’s rats as much as humanly possible. She quietly left the role in September and is now working at NYCHA.
By signing the executive order, the position becomes a permanent part of the mayor’s office, which will be inherited by Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
— Katie Honan
Things To Do
Here are some free and low-cost things to do around the city this week.
Tonight through Sunday, Dec. 21: Brooklyn’s largest menorah lights up every night of Chanukah at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Park. Lighting times vary, so check the schedule here.
Thursday, Dec. 18: Enjoy lantern-making and cookie-decorating at a winter solstice celebration where participants will send their wishes off on the water of Wave Hill’s Aquatic Garden. 4 to 6:30 p.m., Wave Hill, The Bronx.
Saturday, Dec. 20: Want to work out some holiday stress? Come help park volunteers ripe out harmful and invasive vines from Forest Park. A lesson in forest structure and biodiversity included. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet at Park Lane South and Myrtle Avenue, Queens.
THE KICKER: How does the Key Food on Avenue A get into the holiday spirit? With a shocking number of festive figurines, all neatly labeled and stacked in banana boxes, of course.
Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Thursday.
Love,
THE CITY
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