In collaboration with U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, introduced a bill Tuesday (Sept. 24) that would require social media platforms to carry a warning label that would inform users of the mental health risks associated with social media use.
“As parents, Sen. Fetterman and I have seen firsthand the struggles that so many face in this age of trying to raise children in a digital environment,” Britt told reporters Tuesday during a press call.
“We see the damage that social media is causing when it comes to the mental health of the next generation, but the harm isn’t just affecting our youth; it’s also affecting adults, and it’s substantially contributing to the mental health crisis across our country.”
‘Stop the Scroll’
Dubbed the Stop the Scroll Act, the bill would require all social media platforms to include a label that warns users of the potential risks of social media use, and to directly provide mental health resources for users such as contacts for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
The user would be required to acknowledge the warning in order to proceed, or to disable the label upon subsequent uses of a social media platform.
“We know that warning labels won’t prevent the American people from using the app, and that’s not the point,” Britt said.
“It’s just like warning labels on cigarettes that don’t bar people from buying them, but they’re able to have their eyes wide open before they engage with the product, and they do have a track record of success.”
Alabama Daily News asked Britt if she anticipated any opposition to the bill from her Senate colleagues. Britt said, as evident by her partnership with Fetterman, she believed the bill had a good chance for being “able to build a strong, bi-partisan coalition.”
As to her anticipated response from the tech giants operating social media platforms, Britt was not as hopeful.
“When it comes to big tech, I don’t expect them to be huge fans because they don’t want any impediment to their bottom line … these are billion-dollar industries that we are up against,” she told ADN.
“If big tech has the best interest of its users in mind, I think a proper warning about the effects would be something that they should be on board with, but I unfortunately don’t expect them to put people over profits, but I for one am going to fight for the people.”
Climbing rates of depression, suicide
Rates of depression and suicide among teens have climbed significantly over the years, with many studies drawing a strong correlation between depression and prolonged social media use.
In 2023, nearly 20% of U.S. teens had a major depressive episode, and in 2022, 13.4% indicated they had had “serious thoughts” of suicide.
As of 2021, the suicide rate alone among teens had risen nearly 60% when compared to ten years prior.
Britt’s efforts to impose guardrails on internet use among adolescents has been mirrored on the state level, with Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, having sponsored this year a bill that requires pornography sites to verify the age of its users within the state. The new law will go into effect on Oct. 1.
Robbins told ADN he is currently working on another bill — one he described as “very much” like Britt’s Stop the Scroll Act — that would also require social media platforms to provide a warning label, albeit only after a certain amount of social media usage.
“If you scroll for too long, it would provide a warning, and depending on your age, there would be certain requirements and limits on what you could and could not do on those platforms,” Robbins told ADN Tuesday.
“We’re also looking at some ideas related to data collection related to minors, and how that data is collected and stored and what it’s used for.”
Robbins said that depending on the success of Britt’s bill, and whatever final form it takes were it to pass, he may modify his own bill, were it to become redundant. On the Stop the Scroll Act, however, Robbins championed Britt’s efforts.
“I applaud her for her efforts because I think we do have a bit of a mental health crisis in our country related to these products,” he said.
“And that was kind of the gist of my (pornography ID law) over the past session, putting the onus, the burden on that industry, the adult industry, on verifying and requiring that only adults can view the material.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Alexander Willis and originally published by Alabama Daily News. It is reprinted with permission.
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