Put tobacco-style warnings on social media: US health official [Video]

Social media platforms should feature tobacco-style health warnings for adolescents, a top US government health official said Monday.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in an essay published by The New York Times, called social media “an important contributor” to a sweeping mental health crisis among young people.

“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,” he wrote.

Murthy said spending more than three hours a day on social media doubles the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms for adolescents — and that the daily average use in the summer of 2023 was nearly five hours.

“A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” he wrote.

“Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and …