US Surgeon General calls for tobacco-style warning labels for social media platforms

United States Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy announced on Monday (June 17) that he would push for a warning label on social media platforms advising parents that using the platforms might damage adolescents’ mental health.

In an op-ed published in The New York Times, Dr Murthy said the mental health crisis among young people is an urgent problem, with social media “an important contributor”.

“A warning label would send a powerful message to parents that social media has not been proved safe,” wrote Dr Murthy. He also dubbed the effects of social media on children and teenagers as a public health risk on par with road fatalities or contaminated food.

Unleashing powerful tech

“Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes or food?” he wrote. “These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability.”

According to The New York Times, Dr Murthy pointed to research that showed that teens who spent more than three hours a day on social media faced a significantly higher risk of mental health problems, and that 46% of adolescents said social media made tghem feel worse about their bodies.

US teens are spending an average of 4.8 hours per day on social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, according to a Gallup survey of more than 1,500 adolescents.

Needs Congress approval

Warning labels like the ones that appear on tobacco and alcohol products are one of the most powerful tools available to the nation’s top health official. However, any measure like this needs requires approval by Congress. No such legislation has yet been introduced in either chamber.

Earlier, in an interview last month, Dr Murthy said he had repeatedly heard from young people who “can’t get off the platforms,” often finding that hours had passed when they had intended to just check their feeds.

“The platforms are designed to maximise how much time we all spend on them,” he said. “It’s one thing to do that to an adult, and another thing to do it to a child, whose impulse control is still developing, whose brain is at a sensitive phase of development.”

Dr Murthy has long indicated that he views social media as a health risk. In May 2023, he issued an advisory on the subject, warning that “there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”