SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California, home to some of the world’s largest tech companies, would become the first U.S. state to require mental health warning labels on social media sites if lawmakers pass a bill introduced Monday.
The legislation sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta is necessary to increase safety for children online, supporters say, but industry officials vow to fight the measure and others like it under the First Amendment. Social media warning labels quickly gained support from dozens of attorneys general, including Bonta, after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to enact the requirements earlier this year, saying social media is a contributing factor. to the mental health crisis among young people.
“These companies know the harmful impact their products can have on our children, and they refuse to take meaningful steps to make them safer,” Bonta said at a news conference Monday. “Time is up. It is time we step in and demand change.”
Trusted news and daily treats, straight to your inbox
See for yourself: The Yodel is the source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
State officials did not provide details about the bill, but Bonta said the warning labels could appear once a week.
According to 2022 data from the Pew Research Center, up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 say they use a social media platform, and more than a third say they use social media “almost constantly.” Parents’ concerns prompted Australia to pass the world’s first law banning social media for children under 16 in November.
“The promise of social media, while real, has turned into a situation where it turns our children’s attention into a commodity,” Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a California lawmaker and author of the bill, said Monday. “The attention economy is using our children and their well-being to make money for these California corporations.”
Lawmakers should instead focus on online safety education and mental health resources, and not warn about bills that are “constitutionally unsound,” said Todd O’Boyle, vice president of the technology policy group industry Chamber of Progress.
“We strongly suspect that the courts will set them aside as coercive judgments,” O’Boyle told The Associated Press.
Victoria Hinks’ 16-year-old daughter Alexandra died by suicide four months ago after being “led down dark rabbit holes” on social media that glorified eating disorders and self-harm. Hinks said the labels would help protect children from companies that turn a blind eye to the damage caused to children’s mental health when they become addicted to social media platforms.
“There is not a bone in my body that doubts that social media played a role in leading her to that final, irreversible decision,” Hinks said. “This could be your story.”
Common Sense Media, a sponsor of the bill, said it plans to lobby for similar proposals in other states.
Over the past decade, California has positioned itself as a leader in regulating and combating the technology industry to increase online safety for children.
The state, in 2022, became the first to ban online platforms from using users’ personal information in ways that could harm children. It was among the states that sued Meta in 2023 and TikTok in October for deliberately designing addictive features that keep children hooked on their platforms.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, also signed several bills in September to help curb the effects of social media on children, including a bill that would ban social media platforms from knowingly serving addictive feeds to children without parental consent, and a bill that would restrict or prohibit students from using smartphones on school campuses.
Federal lawmakers have held hearings on children’s online safety and legislation is being drafted to force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm. The legislation has the support of Facebook.
