Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. surgeon general, called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms to highlight their potential mental health risks to adolescents, drawing parallels to the warnings currently on cigarette packages.
In a Monday opinion piece in The New York Times, Murthy argued that social media is a significant contributor to the youth mental health crisis.
"It is time to require a surgeon general's warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents," Murthy wrote. "A surgeon general's warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe."
Murthy acknowledged that warning labels wouldn't make social media safe for young people but emphasized that it would be a critical step. His call comes amid widespread social media usage among adolescents, with Pew Research Center data showing that up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 use social media, and more than a third use it "almost constantly."
"Social media today is like tobacco decades ago: It's a product whose business model depends on addicting kids," Josh Golin, executive director at Fairplay, an organization dedicated to ending marketing to children, said in a statement. "As with cigarettes, a surgeon general's warning label is a critical step toward mitigating the threat to children."
Implementing these labels would require congressional action, a process that could be slow despite bipartisan interest in child online safety. Legislative efforts to protect children online have been ongoing, but the last federal law was enacted in 1998, predating Facebook's founding.
Dr. Jenny Radesky, a developmental behavioral pediatrician, supports Murthy's call but stresses the need for comprehensive legislative measures to ensure the safety and privacy of social media products. She advocates for Congress to follow the lead of the United Kingdom and European Union in passing laws that prioritize children's needs in digital interactions.
Tech industry representatives likely would challenge such measures. Adam Kovacevich, CEO of the tech industry policy group Chamber of Progress, argued that warning labels on online speech are both scientifically unsound and contrary to free speech rights.
Murthy's warnings aren't new. Last year, he cautioned that there wasn't sufficient evidence to confirm social media's safety for children and teens. He urged policymakers to regulate social media as stringently as they do car seats, baby formula, and medications.
Despite existing regulations barring kids under 13 from signing up for social media, children often bypass these restrictions. Platforms like TikTok have implemented measures such as a default 60-minute time limit for users under 18, which minors can easily circumvent by entering a passcode.
Murthy highlighted the urgency of addressing social media's impact on youth. He compared the current situation to the regulation of unsafe cars, planes, and food, stressing that these harms result from powerful technology lacking "adequate safety measures, transparency, or accountability."
While the U.S. debates these measures, the European Union has already enacted the Digital Services Act to protect users and curb harmful online content, with severe penalties for violations.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.