California Bill Would Require Social Media Warning Labels

A bill floated this week in California would require online platforms to display mental health warning labels.

The bill (AB 56), unveiled by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), comes several months after after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a warnings on social media services.

“Adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety,” Bonta stated Monday. “AB 56 would require social media companies to disclose this risk to users by adding a warning label to their platforms to ensure consumers have equitable access to information that may affect their health.”

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In September, U.S. Senators John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) and Katie Britt (R-Alabama), introduced the Stop the Scroll Act, a which require social platforms nationwide to inform users every time they access social apps about “potential negative mental health impacts.”

The senators' proposed warning labels would also have to provide access to resources, including the website and phone number of a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system. The labels would have to remain visible until users either left the platform, or acknowledged the potential harm.

Earlier this year, Colorado enacted a law requiring social platforms to display pop-up warnings to minors who use social media platforms for more than one hour a day, or between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. That law won't take effect until 2026.

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