Advisory

Surgeon General: Why I'm Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms

Jun 2024 🇺🇸 The New York Times PAYWALLED — LINKED, NOT HOSTED

In this June 2024 New York Times opinion piece, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy argued that Congress should require a surgeon general's warning label on social media platforms, modeled on tobacco packaging warnings, saying the labels would remind parents and adolescents that social media 'has not been proved safe.' The essay extends his 2023 federal advisory into a specific legislative request, pairing the label proposal with calls for stronger data-privacy protections for minors, restrictions on design features he associates with excessive use, and independent researcher access to platform data. Murthy frames the request as filling a gap left by the absence of comprehensive federal legislation, drawing a comparison to earlier public health interventions on tobacco and auto safety. TechKids Foundation cites this piece as Murthy's most concrete single policy proposal to date and a direct escalation of his advisory's underlying concerns.

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CITATION

Murthy, Vivek H. "Surgeon General: Why I'm Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms." The New York Times, June 17, 2024.

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