US surgeon general calls for warning labels on social-media platforms
Platforms were contributing to a mental-health crisis among young people, Dr. Vivek Murthy said.
The U.S. Surgeon General has called for warning labels on social-media platforms, saying urgent action was needed to address a mental-health emergency involving young people.
Warning labels, similar to those on alcohol and tobacco products, should accompany platforms to “regularly remind parents that social media has not been proved safe," Dr. Vivek Murthy said in an op-ed for the New York Times Monday.
Murthy cited research showing that social media was an important contributor to a growing mental-health crisis among young people.
“Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours," Murthy said.
The surgeon general didn’t name any social-media companies in the article. TikTok, Snapchat, X and Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Murthy has long warned of the risks of social media to young people, urging policy makers and technology companies to increase safeguarding efforts and strengthen standards for younger users.
“We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis," he said in a report published last year.
“I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis—one that we must urgently address."
The report pointed to several studies examining a range of adverse effects of social media on adolescents. Those include online harassment, increased exposure to content related to self-harm and racism, and negative impacts on sleep, body image, and physical activity.
The Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files series in 2021 showed internal research at the company found Instagram was harmful for a percentage of young users, primarily teenage girls with body-image concerns. The research reviewed by the Journal showed the platform made body-image issues worse for a third of teenage girls.
Facebook, which became Meta in 2021, scrapped plans to create an Instagram platform tailored to children after lawmakers and others raised concerns over the popular app’s impact on young people’s mental health.A Meta spokesman said at the time that the investigation was premised on a misunderstanding of issues that also affect other social-media platforms.
Instagram has added more protections for teens in recent years, such as automatically making new accounts for those under 16 years old private.
Government officials, lawmakers and technology companies have for years grappled with how best to manage the issue. Lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe are weighing plans to tighten online age restrictions.
Last year, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, recently signed a law requiring social-media companies to verify users are 18 years or older, and require those under age 18 to receive the consent of a parent or guardian to open an account.
Jennifer Calfas contributed to this article.
