U.S. Senators Katie Britt, R-Alabama, and John Fetterman’s, D-Pennsylvania, legislation, the Stop the Scroll Act, which would create a mental health warning label requirement for users under the age of 18 on social media platforms, passed the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday. This bipartisan legislation would also ensure minors are aware of the potential mental health risks posed by social media usage and are provided access to mental health resources.
“Every child deserves the chance to live their own personal American Dream, but our nation’s youth mental health crisis—fueled by the rise in social media—is getting in the way for far too many,” Britt said. “While Congress needs to do much more to protect the next generation online, I am proud to lead a step in the right direction with Senate Commerce Committee passage of the Stop the Scroll Act. Senator Fetterman and I are following through on the former Surgeon General’s call to create a warning label for social media platforms, but we’re going further by requiring the warning label to also point users to mental health resources. I’m grateful for his partnership on this issue which affects children, teens, and families from Alabama to Pennsylvania and every community in between. Equipped with the knowledge of the dangers and empowered with the resources to address it, we believe this is a simple solution that will help parents and kids thrive.”
“I know firsthand what it’s like to experience mental health struggles and the dark space it can put you in. Those same struggles many of our kids are facing, with plenty of evidence of addiction, anxiety, depression, and suicide rates increasingly directly linked to social media platforms. My good friend and colleague Senator Katie Britt and I know we need laws that protect our children and give them the necessary mental health resources they might need,” Fetterman said. “As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I’ve continuously urged advancing the Stop the Scroll Act to finally require social media companies to display a mental health warning label on different platforms. This is an important bill and I thank my colleagues for helping pass it out of committee.”
Following the previous Surgeon General’s recommendation that a warning label be placed on social media platforms, the Senators introduced the Stop the Scroll Act. Their bill would require social media companies to display a label that warns underage users of potential mental health impacts of accessing a respective social media platform. The warning would appear in a pop-up box format upon opening a social media platform. Users under the age of 18 would then need to acknowledge the potential mental health risks in order to proceed to use the platform. The warning label could not be hidden or obscured, and its exact language would adhere to warnings expressed by the Surgeon General. Additionally, the label would provide an avenue for users to be connected with available mental health resources.
In February of this year during her confirmation hearing, President Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Casey Means, expressed her openness for putting a warning label on social media platforms and applauded the previous Surgeon General’s “incredible work” to protecting children and teens online.
This legislation advancing in the Senate comes as last month, a jury in the state of New Mexico reached a $375 million verdict, finding Meta liable for failing to warn users about the dangers of its platforms and failed to protect children from sexual predators. A day later, a California jury found that Meta and Google were liable for causing depression and anxiety. Meta is facing growing accountability, with more than 40 state attorneys general filing lawsuits alleging the company continues to put profits over people.
