FRANKFORT, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — You’ve seen them on cigarette and alcohol containers; surgeon general warnings are public statements from the nation’s doctor to keep the public informed about critical health issues and risks.
A group of attorneys general, including Kentucky’s Attorney General Russell Coleman, are now calling for similar warnings on social media platforms.
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A letter has been sent to Congress expressing the attorneys’ alarm and what they say is social media companies’ role in young people’s mental health.
The letter was addressed to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
“Social media platforms are designed to addict users—especially our kids —to spend countless hours digging for their algorithmic fix,” Coleman said in a news release. “Even as our Office continues to hold these companies accountable for the harm they inflict on our youth, it’s time for our federal partners to step in and protect Kentucky’s sons and daughters.”
The letter highlights a bipartisan interest in safeguarding young people and research showing connections between social media and depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
“As State Attorneys General, we sometimes disagree about important issues, but all of us share and abiding concern for the safety of the kids in our jurisdiction—and algorithm-driven social media platforms threaten that safety,” the letter reads.
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The coalition of attorneys general said this is just their latest attempt to protect young people, pointing to other efforts to hold social media companies accountable, as well as some legislative efforts on the state and local levels, but said they have not been sufficient.
“And a surgeon general’s warning on social media platforms, though not sufficient to
address the full scope of the problem, would be one consequential step toward mitigating
the risk of harm to youth,” the attorneys general argue.
A surgeon general’s warning requires congressional action to go into effect.
In June, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for the same action in an opinion piece published in the New York Times .
Surgeon general calls for social media warning labels, like those required on cigarettes “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. 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 said . “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.”
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