BY MELISSA PATRICK
KY HEALTH NEWS
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced that Kentucky is part of a bipartisan coalition of 42 attorneys general who are calling for federal legislation to require a surgeon general’s warning on social media sites, similar to what is on cigarette and alcohol containers.
“As state Attorneys General, we sometimes disagree about important issues, but all of us share an abiding concern for the safety of the kids in our jurisdiction — and algorithm-driven social media platforms threaten that safety,” the 42 attorneys general said in a seven-page letter to Congress.
In the letter, addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the attorneys general raised an alarm over the growing scrutiny on social media companies for their role in the generational harm to young people’s mental health.
“Social media platforms are designed to addict users — especially our kids — to spend countless hours digging for their algorithmic fix,” Coleman said Sept. 11 in a news release. “Even as our office continues to hold these companies accountable for the harm they inflict on our youth, it’s time for our federal partners to step in and protect Kentucky’s sons and daughters.”
In their letter, the attorneys general referenced wide-ranging research showing the link between young people’s use of these platform and psychological harm, including depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts in kids and teens.
Further, they write that Congressional action is needed because this problem will not fix itself and that social media platforms “have demonstrated an unwillingness to fix the problem on their own.”
A surgeon general’s warning requires congressional action.
The letter echoes much of what Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for in an op-ed written for the New York Times in June that said, in part: “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor. . . . It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.”
[Coleman was joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, American Samoa, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Main, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming in this 42-state letter.]
Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.