Study after study shows that social media can be harmful to children's development. Now the Surgeon General wants to put a warning label on social media platforms to help children and their parents understand the risks.

In an op-ed published in The New York Times on Monday, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy called for warning labels on social media platforms. The warning label, which Murthy suggested could be similar to those on tobacco products, "would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been shown to be safe."

Murthy's suggestion, however, was just that. A warning label as requested would only be possible with "congressional action," and while Murthy issued an advisory in 2023 highlighting the risk to adolescent mental health associated with social media use, there currently appears to be no movement in Congress to create a warning label.

Social media companies, Murthy said, claim to be making their platforms safer, but “We need proof,” Murthy said. “It’s time to require a warning label from the Surgeon General on social media platforms, saying that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.”