Lawmakers Demand Mental Health Warning Labels On Social Media 

After a slew of claims that social media is destroying mental health—especially in teens and young adults—lawmakers and state officials are taking aim at social media giants. 

Recently, Senators John Fetterman and Katie Britt proposed the “Stop the Scroll Act,” while Arkansas sued YouTube—two approaches with common goals but pretty different methods and scopes.

If passed, the Stop the Scroll Act would require social media platforms to implement warning labels about their detrimental effects on mental health. The law would apply to all social media platforms accessed from U.S. servers.

The mandatory warning labels would serve as a form of disclosure, like, Hey, if you keep doom-scrolling on TikTok, you might just spiral into a depressive episode. They’d probably be way more serious and evidence-based, of course, but that’s the general idea. 

Then, users would “acknowledge the potential mental health risks in order to proceed to use the platform,” according to a statement about the bipartisan bill. “The warning label could not be hidden or obscured, and its exact language would adhere to requirements established by the Surgeon General.” 

Meanwhile, the state of Arkansas just sued YouTube (and its parent company, Alphabet), alleging violations of state laws on deceptive trade practices and public nuisance—specifically, it claims, for how YouTube steers young people toward harmful content.  

According to the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office in the state court, “YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and advertising revenue. As a result, youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media, and in particular, YouTube.”

It sounds weird, but perhaps a warning label would help?

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