California is considering a bill that would make it the first state in the U.S. to require mental health warning labels on social media sites as a means to bolster online safety for children.
The legislation, sponsored by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, aims to address the harmful impact of social media on children’s mental health.
The big picture: The proposed warning labels have gained swift bipartisan support from dozens of attorneys general, following a call from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to establish such requirements.
- State officials have not yet provided specific details about the bill, but Attorney General Bonta mentioned that the warning labels could potentially pop up once weekly on social media platforms.
Why it matters: Data from the Pew Research Center in 2022 shows that up to 95% of youth aged 13 to 17 use social media platforms, with more than a third stating that they use social media “almost constantly.”
Go deeper: California has been positioning itself as a leader in regulating and fighting the tech industry to protect children online, with previous actions to prohibit online platforms from using personal information in ways that could harm children and the filing of lawsuits against major social media platforms for deliberately designing addictive features.
- At the federal level, lawmakers are also addressing online child safety, with planned legislation to force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm, with the support of prominent figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr.
