{"id":4335,"date":"2025-06-01T01:01:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T05:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/?p=4335"},"modified":"2026-01-17T20:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:35:37","slug":"britt-logging-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/2025\/06\/01\/britt-logging-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Logging Off: A Comprehensive Agenda for Social Media and Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senator Katie Boyd Britt[*]<\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>
\n

Abstract<\/span><\/p>\n

The advent of social media in the first decade of the 21st century promised a new era of connectedness; instead, we are more isolated than ever \u2014 especially our youth. The ubiquity of social media platforms has played a leading role in a mental health crisis plaguing American adolescents. As a United States Senator, I believe our government has a compelling interest in acting to counter these disturbing trends. In this Essay, I discuss a comprehensive policy agenda the U.S. government should pursue to safeguard young Americans from the harms social media can cause.<\/em><\/p>\n

I. Introduction<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first decade or so of the existence of the internet, its utility in the public imagination went from a novelty only for those with computer skills to a tool for connecting all humankind via social media and a variety of applications. While such a rapid increase in use and array of functions has brought benefits for many, those benefits have come with an epidemic of mental health issues, including increased instances of depressive episodes, unhealthy comparisons between oneself and others on social media platforms, and alarming dips in abilities to interact with others beyond a screen. I have come to believe that the United States Congress has a compelling interest in responding to the mental health crisis among American youth, and I have introduced and supported several pieces of legislation doing so.<\/p>\n

II. Shifting Data on Internet Use<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2006, Pew Research Center<\/em> issued a report, The Strength of Internet Ties<\/em>, asserting that the World Wide Web helped \u201cbuild social capital\u201d and, \u201c[r]ather than conflicting with people\u2019s community ties, we find that the internet fits seamlessly with in-person and phone encounters.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup>Jeffrey Boase, John B. Horrigan, Barry Wellman & Lee Rainie, The Strength of Internet Ties<\/em>, PEW RSCH. CTR.<\/span> (Jan. 25, 2006), https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/internet\/2006\/01\/25\/the-strength-of-internet-ties\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/T3A7-SYTM].<\/span> At that point, the report reads, internet users had \u201csomewhat larger social networks than non-users\u201d and were not sacrificing in-person contact in favor of conversations had from behind a screen to any significant extent.2<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> <\/span> The 2006 Pew<\/em> report pre-dated the launch of Twitter and the point at which Facebook began allowing anyone above the age of thirteen with a valid email address to register (before that point, it was only available to those with university emails), meaning its findings reflected an internet environment that simply does not exist anymore.3<\/a><\/sup>Terms of Use<\/em>, FACEBOOK<\/span> (Dec. 13, 2006), https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20061230091603\/http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/terms.php [https:\/\/perma.cc\/3HWT-G26P].<\/span><\/p>\n

Pew<\/em> released another report in May 2013, this one specifically addressing the social media habits of America\u2019s teenagers.4<\/a><\/sup>Mary Madden, Amanda Lenhart, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser, Maeve Duggan, Aaron Smith & Meredith Beaton, Teens, Social Media, and Privacy<\/em>, PEW RSCH. CTR.<\/span> (May 21, 2013), https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/PIP_TeensSocialMediaandPrivacy_PDF.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/A25X-GVDV].<\/span> Its authors wrote, \u201c[t]he frequency of teen usage may have reached a plateau;\u201d5<\/a><\/sup>Id. <\/em>at 22.<\/span> forty-two percent of teens reported visiting social media websites \u201cseveral times a day.\u201d6<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> In the survey informing Pew<\/em>\u2019s published findings\u2014conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012\u2014fifty-two percent of the teens who reported using the internet said they had an experience online that \u201cmade them feel good about themselves.\u201d7<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> at 21\u201322.<\/span> Breaking down the groups into smaller categories, fifty-seven percent of teens who used social media said they had a positive experience online, whereas only thirty percent of teen internet users who did not have social media accounts reported the same.8<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> at 12. <\/span><\/p>\n

Much as the 2006 Pew<\/em> report offers a glimpse into a time before social media became seemingly essential to the adolescent experience in the United States and elsewhere, the 2013 report relied on data obtained just before and after Facebook acquired Instagram. The image-sharing app\u2019s monthly active users increased to 100 million in February 2013, less than a year after Facebook purchased the platform but months after the 2013 Pew <\/em>report\u2019s data was<\/p>\n

compiled.9<\/a><\/sup>See<\/em> Julianne Pepitone, Instagram hits 100 million users<\/em>, CNN<\/span> (Feb. 26, 2013), https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2013\/02\/26\/technology\/social\/instagram-100-million-users\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/PV8W-JAVY]; Madden et al., supra <\/em>note 4, at 21.<\/span> Instagram passed the two-billion-user mark in late 2021.10<\/a><\/sup>Salvador Rodriguez, Instagram surpasses 2 billion monthly users while powering through a year of turmoil<\/em>, CNBC<\/span>, (Dec. 14, 2021), https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/12\/14\/instagram-surpasses-2-billion-monthly-users.html [https:\/\/perma.cc\/9LKW-YE3F].<\/span> Given the ubiquity of Facebook at the time, its acquisition of Instagram allowed the latter to expand to the point at which half of Americans say they use the platform today.11<\/a><\/sup>See<\/em> Social Media Fact Sheet<\/em>, PEW RSCH. CTR. <\/span>(Nov. 13, 2024), https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/internet\/fact-sheet\/social-media\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/DL7J-YXBB].<\/span><\/p>\n

During the same period of time when social media usage rose, the U.S. also saw a rapid increase in mental health challenges among preteens, teens, and young adults, as detailed further below.12<\/a><\/sup>See infra <\/em>notes 13\u201330 and accompanying text.<\/span> Thankfully, mainstream media and health officials have recently made greater steps to recognize the crisis, and a growing number of lawmakers are actively collaborating to find solutions. The problem facing the nation, though, is a large one\u2014and the statistics demonstrate both the scope and severity of these fundamental challenges.<\/p>\n

III. The Mental Health Crisis<\/span><\/p>\n

Rates of mental health issues\u2014especially among our country\u2019s youth\u2014have exploded in the U.S. over the same period of time in which social media became a commonly-used product. Twenty percent of Americans between the ages of twelve and seventeen had at least one major depressive episode in 2021.13<\/a><\/sup>SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERV. ADMIN., DEP\u2019T OF HEALTH & HUM. SERVS.<\/span>, KEY SUBSTANCE USE AND MENTAL HEALTH INDICATORS IN THE UNITED STATES: RESULTS FROM THE 2021 NATIONAL SURVEY ON DRUG USE AND HEALTH 38 <\/span>(2022).<\/span> Rates of adolescent depression nearly doubled between 2009 and 2019,14<\/a><\/sup>Sylia Wilson & Nathalie M. Dumornay, Rising Rates of Adolescent Depression in the United States: Challenges and Opportunities in the 2020s<\/em>, 70 J. OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH\u202f: OFF. PUBL\u2019N OF SOC\u2019Y FOR ADOLESCENT MED.<\/span> 354, 354 (2022). <\/span> and emergency room visits by children and teens for mental health reasons also rose significantly during the second decade of the 21st century.15<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Tanner J. Bommersbach, Alastair J. McKean, Mark Olfson & Taeho Greg Rhee, National Trends in Mental Health-Related Emergency Department Visits Among Youth, 2011-2020<\/em>, 329 J. OF THE AM. MED. ASS\u2019N.<\/span> 1469, 1469 (2023).<\/span> Suicide rates among Americans between the ages of ten and twenty-four remained stable from 2000\u20132007 before increasing by over fifty-seven percent over the next eleven years, demonstrating a profound increase in the intensity of our country\u2019s youth mental health crisis.16<\/a><\/sup>SALLY C. CURTIN<\/span>, NAT\u2019L CTR. FOR HEALTH STATISTICS, NAT\u2019L VITAL STAT. SYS.<\/span>, STATE SUICIDE RATES AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS AGED 10<\/span>\u201324: UNITED STATES, 2000<\/span>\u20132018 <\/span>(2020), https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/data\/nvsr\/nvsr69\/nvsr-69-11-508.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/YSL7-BRDS].<\/span><\/p>\n

Suicide is far more common now than it was fifteen years ago. In 2022, death by suicide in the United States reached its highest level since 1941,17<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>The Associated Press, Suicides in the U.S. reached all-time high in 2022, CDC data shows<\/em>, NBC NEWS<\/span> (Aug. 10, 2023), https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/mental-health\/cdc-data-finds-suicides-reached-time-high-2022-rcna99327 [https:\/\/perma.cc\/939Y-JRGZ].<\/span> and suicide has become the second leading cause of death for both young teens and adults between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four.18<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,<\/span> WISQARS Leading Causes of Death Visualization Tool<\/em> (2022), https:\/\/wisqars.cdc.gov\/lcd\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/RR47-6ZFS].<\/span> The numbers concerning teens (and specifically teen girls) are even more frightening. In 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey, nearly one-third of teenage girls in the U.S. seriously considered suicide.19<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY DATA SUMMARY & TRENDS REPORT: 2013<\/span>\u20132023, <\/span>at 60\u201361 (2024), https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/yrbs\/dstr\/index.html [https:\/\/perma.cc\/PE3T-WH4D].<\/span> The same report showed about twenty-five percent of American high-school girls made a plan to take their own lives.20<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> at 62\u201363.<\/span> Nearly ten percent of high-schoolers\u2014and thirteen percent of our country\u2019s high-school girls\u2014went so far as to actually attempt suicide.21<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> at 64\u201365.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other serious indicators of the mental health crisis have also become more prevalent over the same period of time. The question of whether young people feel satisfied with themselves\u2014an indicator of general self-image\u2014has also been polled over time. That question is, of course, nowhere near as severe as self-harm, but the percentage of American students\u2014in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades in one notable survey conducted by the Monitoring the Future organization\u2014who reported feeling satisfied with themselves has declined a noticeable degree.22<\/a><\/sup>JONATHAN HAIDT<\/span>, THE ANXIOUS GENERATION: HOW THE GREAT REWIRING OF CHILDHOOD IS CAUSING AN EPIDEMIC OF MENTAL ILLNESS 132 (2024)<\/span>.<\/span> While feelings of satisfaction peaked in 2011 with both boys and girls hovering around seventy percent, those numbers dropped substantially in the ensuing years.23<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> By 2019, just over sixty percent of boys and just under sixty percent of girls reported the same.24<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> A similar statistic, also compiled by Monitoring the Future, addresses whether American high-schoolers feel their life has meaning. In 2010, about twelve percent of both high-school boys and girls agreed with the notion that \u201clife often feels meaningless.\u201d25<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> at 165.<\/span> By 2019, that number had reached about twenty percent for teens of both genders.26<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

While twenty percent may not seem like a particularly large number, the increase since 2010 is significant. The statistics support the conclusion that the U.S. is deep in the throes of a mental health crisis,27<\/a><\/sup>CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION<\/span>, Protecting the Nation\u2019s Mental Health<\/em> (Aug. 8, 2024), https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mental-health\/about\/what-cdc-is-doing.html [https:\/\/perma.cc\/T3Z3-VMMY]. <\/span> and the issue has become so prevalent that there is now a growing collection of literature dealing with youth mental health. New York University Stern School of Business professor and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, for instance, published his The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness<\/em> in 2024, and detailed the distressing rise of mental illness among Americans in what has been termed Generation Z.28<\/a><\/sup>HAIDT<\/span>, supra <\/em>note 22, at 132<\/span>.<\/span> The crisis has also caught the attention of then U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who in May 2023 issued an advisory on the subject.29<\/a><\/sup>VIVEK MURTHY<\/span>, SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH: THE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL\u2019S ADVISORY<\/span> (2023), https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/M45D-6P5D].<\/span> Murthy noted many of the aforementioned trends and concluded that social media usage has played an integral role in the worsening condition of American kids\u2019 mental health.30<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> at 6\u20138.<\/span><\/p>\n

IV. The Problem of Social Media<\/span><\/p>\n

The common thread in nearly every discussion of the mental health crisis is social media use. While we should always be wary of relying on monocausal explanations, the timelines of both the drastic increase in mental health issues among American youth and the growing use of social media platforms line up nearly perfectly. According to a 2024 Pew <\/em>study, ninety-five percent of U.S. teens reported having access to smartphone.31<\/a><\/sup>Michelle Faverio & Olivia Sidoti, Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024<\/em>, PEW RSCH. CTR.<\/span> (Dec. 12, 2024), https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/internet\/2024\/12\/12\/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/Y4J4-AQ3U].<\/span> The same poll showed that about half of American teens describe their internet use as near constant.32<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em> <\/span> As far back as 2016, half of all American teens felt \u201caddicted\u201d to their phones.33<\/a><\/sup>COMMON SENSE MEDIA,<\/span> New Report Finds Teens Feel Addicted to Their Phones, Causing Tension at Home<\/em> (May 3, 2016), https:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/press-releases\/new-report-finds-teens-feel-addicted-to-their-phones-causing-tension-at-home [https:\/\/perma.cc\/4Z4X-U3G7].<\/span> Looking solely at social media rather than broader smartphone and internet use, fifty-four percent of teenagers in 2022 said it would be either \u201csomewhat hard\u201d or \u201cvery hard\u201d for them to quit.34<\/a><\/sup>Emily A. Vogels & Risa Gelles-Watnick, Teens and Social Media: Key Findings from Pew Research Center Surveys<\/em>, PEW RSCH. CTR.<\/span> (Apr. 24, 2023), https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2023\/04\/24\/teens-and-social-media-key-findings-from-pew-research-center-surveys\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/UK39-J6FE].<\/span> The same year, teenagers reported using certain platforms almost constantly: 19% used YouTube almost constantly, 16% used TikTok, fifteen percent used Snapchat, 10% used Instagram, and 2% used Facebook.35<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> More than half of all teenagers reported using these apps, other than Facebook, everyday.36<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> It is noteworthy that teenagers would use the descriptor \u201calmost constantly\u201d to characterize their social media usage when options like \u201cseveral times a day\u201d were available. As discussed earlier, forty-two percent of teens in 2013 said they visited social media sites \u201cseveral times a day,\u201d and the authors of that report wrote that \u201c[t]he frequency of teen usage may have reached a plateau.\u201d37<\/a><\/sup>Mary Madden, Amanda Lenhart, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser, Maeve Duggan, Aaron Smith & Meredith Beaton, Teens, Social Media, and Privacy<\/em>, PEW RSCH. CTR<\/span>. (May 21, 2013), https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/PIP_TeensSocialMediaandPrivacy_PDF.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/A25X-GVDV].<\/span> At that same point in time, fifty-two percent of teens surveyed reported having online experiences that \u201cmade them feel good about themselves.\u201d It is notable that as the amount of time teens spend on social media platforms has risen, so too have rates of mental health issues.38<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Ctrs. for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2013\u20132023<\/em>, at 60\u201361 (2024), https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/yrbs\/dstr\/index.html [https:\/\/perma.cc\/PE3T-WH4D].<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Surgeon General Murthy, drawing upon the results of studies that prompted his advisory, warned of the adverse effects prolonged exposure to social media platforms can bring:<\/p>\n

The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency\u2014and social media has emerged as an important contributor. Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours. Additionally, nearly half of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies.39<\/a><\/sup>Vivek H. Murthy, Surgeon General: Why I\u2019m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms,<\/em> N.Y. TIMES<\/span> (June 17, 2024), https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/17\/opinion\/social-media-health-warning.html [https:\/\/perma.cc\/4PWT-X3VE].<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea that using social media would make an adolescent feel worse about his or her body is not surprising. What might shock parents of preteens and teenagers, though, is the extent to which these platforms promote unhealthy attitudes toward young people\u2019s body images. As Haidt writes in The Anxious Generation<\/em>, apps like Instagram and TikTok utilize algorithms that \u201chome in on (and amplify) girls\u2019 desires to be beautiful in socially prescribed ways, which include being thin.\u201d40<\/a><\/sup>HAIDT<\/span>, supra <\/em>note 22, at 133.<\/span> Those social media apps continuously broadcast images and videos of exceedingly thin\u2014and often very unhealthy\u2014women, which in turn leads to the promotion of anorexia, or videos of \u201cemaciated young women urging their followers to try extreme diets such as the \u2018corpse bride\u2019 diet or the water-only diet.\u201d41<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> This can, of course, lead to physical health problems in addition to mental health issues. And, the data shows, adolescents understand the predicament they face.42<\/a><\/sup>Murthy, supra<\/em> note 39.<\/span><\/p>\n

Murthy described in his New York Times op-ed a discussion he had with students on the topic of mental health, which\u2014almost inevitably, as he put it\u2014led to a discussion of social media:<\/p>\n

After they talked about what they liked about social media\u2014a way to stay in touch with old friends, find communities of shared identity and express themselves creatively\u2014a young woman named Tina raised her hand. \u201cI just don\u2019t feel good when I use social media,\u201d she said softly, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Her confession opened the door for her classmates. One by one, they spoke about their experiences with social media: the endless comparison with other people that shredded their self-esteem, the feeling of being addicted and unable to set limits and the difficulty having real conversations on platforms that too often fostered outrage and bullying. There was a sadness in their voices, as if they knew what was happening to them but felt powerless to change it.43<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This sense of powerlessness is not limited to the participants in Murthy\u2019s discussion, and social media executives understand it quite well; it is, in a very real sense, their business model. Internal research conducted by Instagram\u2019s parent company, Meta (formerly Facebook), found that about a third of teenage girls who use Instagram report the app makes them feel bad about their bodies.44<\/a><\/sup>Georgia Wells, Jeff Horwitz & Deepa Seetharaman, Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show<\/em>, WALL ST. J. (<\/span>Sept. 14, 2021), https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739 [https:\/\/perma.cc\/NW9H-9U7M].<\/span> Despite this, in a separate focus group, teen girls told Meta that they felt addicted to Instagram, and unable to stop using the app.45<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What we see from the available data and Murthy\u2019s writings is consumers understanding the consequences of consuming a product. For various reasons, though, they cannot bring themselves to cease use. To readers, this description may bear a striking resemblance to that of cigarettes. Indeed, even though cigarette smokers may understand the risks of smoking in the abstract, such information may not be top of mind during the process of purchasing a pack of cigarettes. Both tobacco products and social media platforms have their own addictive qualities, and both tobacco producers and social media companies are incentivized to promote their products despite being fully aware of their adverse effects. As studies\u2014including one commissioned by then Surgeon General Jerome Adams in 2020\u2014have shown the mere presence of a visual warning label on tobacco products can induce consumers to think about those negative health effects.46<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>OFF. OF THE SURGEON GEN., U.S. DEP\u2019T OF HEALTH AND HUM. SERVS., SMOKING CESSATION: A REPORT OF THE SURGEON GENERAL 11<\/span>\u201312 (2020<\/span>) (\u201cLarge pictorial health warning labels on tobacco packages are effective in increasing smokers\u2019 knowledge, stimulating their interest in quitting, and reducing smoking prevalence\u201d) [hereinafter SMOKING CESSATION<\/span>]. <\/span><\/p>\n

V. The Stop The Scroll Act<\/span><\/p>\n

This is exactly why I introduced the Stop the Scroll Act in September 2024 alongside my colleague, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.). After Murthy offered the idea of a warning label for social media platforms\u2014and forty-two state attorneys general signaled their support for such a proposal\u2014Senator Fetterman and I began to make it a reality.47<\/a><\/sup>Letter from National Association of Attorneys General, to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumner, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Sept. 9, 2024), https:\/\/ag.ny.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/letters\/social-warning-label-letter.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/Y4YC-9TK3].<\/span> We know social media use is associated with mental health risks, and we know warning labels can increase awareness of those risks and even change behavior.48<\/a><\/sup>Cf. <\/em>SMOKING CESSATION<\/span>, supra<\/em> note 46.<\/span> If people who use social media platforms first have to acknowledge their potential negative effects in a similar way to people who purchase cigarettes, it stands to reason they will also rethink their behavior before proceeding. It is also our belief that there is a compelling reason to provide citizens, in this case some of the most vulnerable citizens, with the tools to make an informed decision about whether to engage with a certain service. The Stop the Scroll Act does not determine the specific words appearing on the label. Aside from a warning about the potential negative effects of social media use, though, the label would have to display resources for addressing those effects, including the web address and telephone number of a suicide prevention and mental health hotline such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.49<\/a><\/sup>Stop the Scroll Act, S. 5150, 118th Cong. \u00a7 4 (2024).<\/span><\/p>\n

While the target audience may be teens, the warning label would appear on the devices of every American.50<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> Similarly to notes on cigarette cartons, the social media warning would not prevent any American from using a website or an app.51<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> It would simply offer information with the relevant risks and dangers in mind.52<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> Social media companies have a patchy history where enforcing their own rules is concerned, and the Stop the Scroll Act includes language to prevent those companies from finding and exploiting loopholes or workarounds.<\/p>\n

The clauses in our bill pertaining to loopholes that social media companies might attempt to exploit, like hiding the warning label in terms and conditions or allowing users to disable the warning, are not based on paranoia. They reflect the reality that social media companies have\u2014quite successfully\u2014maneuvered around existing legislation intended to protect children from the harms of social media use. As of now, the sole major piece of legislation on children and the internet is the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act (\u201cCOPPA\u201d) of 1998.53<\/a><\/sup>15 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 6501\u201306. <\/span> The years in which the law was signed and enacted\u20141998 and 2000, respectively\u2014should be cause for concern. COPPA became law before the advent of social media and long before Americans became aware of the malignant effects social media platforms could have. Under COPPA, websites and other online services cannot collect personal information from children under thirteen years of age without parental consent, with one important caveat: the websites and other online services must know the child is younger than thirteen.54<\/a><\/sup>Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Rule, 16 C.F.R. \u00a7 312.2 (2013).<\/span> Once social media platforms started rolling out, there was a clear incentive for companies not to verify whether users hit the standard minimum age of thirteen; kids twelve and younger could simply enter a false date of birth or check a box saying they were old enough to use the app or website. It is unsurprising many children younger than thirteen have done so. In fact, data collected by anti-child sex abuse nonprofit Thorn in 2021 regarding children between the ages of nine and twelve demonstrate just that.55<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>THORN<\/span>, RESPONDING TO ONLINE THREATS: MINORS\u2019 PERSPECTIVES ON DISCLOSING, REPORTING, AND BLOCKING IN 2021<\/span> (2023), https:\/\/info.thorn.org\/hubfs\/Research\/Thorn_ROT_Monitoring_2021.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/P7WU-NFE5].<\/span> When asked whether they had ever used certain social media sites, forty-nine percent of respondents between nine and twelve years old said they had used Instagram, fifty-two percent said they had used Facebook, fifty-eight percent said they had used Snapchat, and sixty-nine percent said they had used TikTok.56<\/a><\/sup>See id.<\/em> at 13.<\/span><\/p>\n

VI. An Agenda for the Social Media Age<\/span><\/p>\n

The Stop the Scroll Act is by no means a cure-all, but it is an opportunity to ensure all Americans who use social media platforms understand the mental health risks of their prolonged use. It does indeed address a problem needing attention, and it is my firm belief we would see results. The cigarette warning label studies are enough evidence to convince me this bill is worth signing into law. But we cannot stop there. The flaws inherent in COPPA\u2014the failure of the law to ensure social media companies actually verify their users\u2019 age\u2014are significant, and we must consider a comprehensive social media policy agenda. Alongside Stop the Scroll are several other pieces of social media legislation aimed at plugging the holes in existing policy and beginning to tackle the epidemic of mental illness among our youth, including the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act.57<\/a><\/sup>Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, S. 2073, 118th Cong. (2024).<\/span> That bill, which I was proud to vote in favor of in July 2024, effectively combines two other bills I cosponsored: the Kids Online Safety Act (\u201cKOSA\u201d)58<\/a><\/sup>Kids Online Safety Act, S. 1409, 118th Cong. (2023).<\/span> and the new Children\u2019s and Teens\u2019 Online Privacy Protection Act (\u201cCOPPA 2.0\u201d).59<\/a><\/sup>Children and Teens\u2019 Online Privacy Protection Act, S. 1628, 117th Cong. (2021).<\/span> The two-pronged attack, which the Senate approved overwhelmingly, fixes many of the problems of COPPA in its original form.<\/p>\n

The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act includes provisions accounting for the unique ways social media platforms may compromise the security of a child\u2019s personal data and other related information.60<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, supra<\/em> note 57.<\/span> It would prevent platforms from holding minors\u2019 data overseas without providing proper notice, restrict the length of time during which children and teen\u2019s personal data can be stored, and prohibit advertisements that specifically target individual children and teens or endorse illegal products.61<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> In that way, it is similar to the original COPPA, with one very important change: the age group covered by these restrictions on data collection would extend to all minors under seventeen years old.62<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> The bill would also establish a \u201cduty of care\u201d with regard to the use of social media platforms by minors. Social media companies would be required to exercise reasonable care in the creation and implementation of design features to prevent a number of harms to minors including suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and violence.63<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> Those changes to design features include curtailing infinite scrolling, autoplay, and reward systems based on the time spent on the app or website.64<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Platforms with more than ten million active monthly users would also be required to undergo annual independent audits resulting in a public report that, among other things, must assess the reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to minors on their platforms and describe steps taken to mitigate those harms.65<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> On the data front, the platforms would have to provide information about how children and teens\u2019 data is used and create parental control mechanisms for limiting geographic tracking, as well as screen time restrictions and other personalized settings.66<\/a><\/sup>See id.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to limiting the use of their child\u2019s data, parents under the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act would be able to manage their child\u2019s account and privacy settings.67<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> While parents are already able to restrict their child\u2019s phone usage through parental restriction settings, that does not impact the public or private status of a child\u2019s account or any other platform-specific detail. The bill would create a study to determine the best possible options for verifying a minor\u2019s age while keeping their privacy entirely intact and require social media platforms to develop a reporting mechanism specifically related to harms to minors; while some content may not violate an app or website\u2019s terms of service, it may still be inappropriate for users under a certain age.68<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act addresses many existing holes in U.S. law pertaining to social media platforms, but we must push just a little further with our legislative efforts. Working alongside Senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Brian Schatz (D-Haw.), I introduced the Kids Off Social Media Act, which would set a federal minimum age of thirteen to open an account on a social media app or website.69<\/a><\/sup>Kids Off Social Media Act, S. 4213, 118th Cong. (2024).<\/span> Even though social media companies have nominal age limits, as discussed earlier, those companies are often reluctant to enforce their own rules. Our bill would make it easier for them: it would write a minimum age into U.S. law and require platforms to use the information they already have about a user to determine whether he or she meets the federal minimum age.70<\/a><\/sup>See id.<\/em><\/span> It would also require publicly funded schools to block and filter social media on their Wi-Fi networks,71<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> allowing our schools to be places of learning rather than places of endless scrolling.<\/p>\n

VI. Addressing The Algorithms<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kids Off Social Media Act addresses one more topic which research suggests is vital: the use of algorithms. As previously discussed, existing algorithms on platforms like Instagram and TikTok have the potential to cause great harm to children through exposure to content related to eating disorders, for instance.72<\/a><\/sup>See<\/em> HAIDT<\/span>, supra <\/em>note 22, at 133.<\/span> The algorithms are also capable of introducing children to fringe beliefs founded in conspiracy theories that\u2014by virtue of being kids\u2014they will not have the tools to fully understand. A recent notable example of this phenomenon was the episode in fall 2023 during which TikTok users began sharing a 2002 letter written by al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.73<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Jim Geraghty, Osama Bin Laden Is Duping Young People on TikTok from the Grave<\/em>, NAT\u2019L REV.<\/span> (Nov. 16, 2023), https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-morning-jolt\/osama-bin-laden-is-duping-young-people-on-tiktok-from-the-grave\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/5TFF-DXVY].<\/span> The purpose of publishing his letter and their thoughts about it was not to raise awareness of the evil of jihadism or analyze a historical document, but to justify and sympathize with bin Laden\u2019s arguments about the \u201ccrimes committed by the Americans and Jews.\u201d74<\/a><\/sup> See id.<\/em><\/span> TikTok has claimed it does not engineer its algorithm to promote particular ideologies, but a Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University study initially published in 2024 (and updated in 2025) suggests TikTok\u2019s algorithms indoctrinate American users into anti-West positions.75<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>NAT\u2019L CONTAGION RSCH. INST.,<\/span> THE CCP\u2019S DIGITAL CHARM OFFENSIVE: HOW TIKTOK\u2019S SEARCH ALGORITHM AND PRO-CHINA INFLUENCE NETWORKS INDOCTRINATE GENZ USERS IN THE UNITED STATES <\/span>(2024), https:\/\/networkcontagion.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/NCRI-Report_-The-CCPs-Digital-Charm-Offensive.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/M89L-NS9T].<\/span><\/p>\n

The TikTok algorithm, and how finely-tuned it can become to a user\u2019s interests, presents another issue: a feeling one cannot survive without it. In March 2024, lawmakers considered a bill to present TikTok with a choice between divesting from its parent company, ByteDance, or ceasing its U.S. operations, and TikTok deployed an unusually aggressive strategy.76<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Sam Cabral, Desperate TikTok Lobbying Effort Backfires on Capitol Hil<\/em>, BBC<\/span> (Mar. 8, 2024), https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-68517607 [https:\/\/perma.cc\/3UXM-L5N2].<\/span> Attempting to rally public opposition to the bill, TikTok urged its users to call their representatives\u2014directing users to their elected officials using location tracking\u2014and express their dismay at a potential ban.77<\/a><\/sup>See id.<\/em><\/span> Reporting at the time suggested most of the callers were teens, and they left messages like, \u201cIf you ban TikTok, I will kill myself.\u201d78<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>NAT\u2019L CONTAGION RSCH. INST.<\/span>, supra<\/em> note 75.<\/span> While TikTok did not explicitly promote threatening suicide, it did pressure its users to contact lawmakers.79<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Cabral, supra <\/em>note 76.<\/span> According to a House Republican spokesperson, some callers said \u201cTikTok wouldn\u2019t let them on the app\u201d before they placed a call to their representative.80<\/a><\/sup>See id.<\/em><\/span> My colleague, Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), received a voicemail from a young-sounding caller who said, \u201cI\u2019ll shoot you and find you and cut you into pieces.\u201d81<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Tara Suter, Republican Senator says he was threatened over potential TikTok ban<\/em>, THE HILL<\/span> (Mar. 20, 2024), https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/technology\/4545952-republican-senator-says-he-was-threatened-over-potential-tiktok-ban\/ [https:\/\/perma.cc\/NEM3-TWKB].<\/span> My office, and plenty others, received threatening messages as well.82<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Cristiano Lima-Strong, Lawmakers see rise in threatening messages as TikTok users swarm Congress<\/em>, WASHINGTON POST<\/span> (Mar. 21, 2024), https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2024\/03\/21\/congress-threats-tiktok-ban\/ []<\/span> Clearly, there is a problem here. While there is a range of opinions regarding TikTok-specific legislation, there can be no question social media platforms have a hold on our country\u2019s kids, and the use thereof has demonstrably negative effects.83<\/a><\/sup>VIVEK MURTHY<\/span>, SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH: THE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL\u2019S ADVISORY<\/span> (2023), https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/M45D-6P5D].<\/span><\/p>\n

VII. Our Compelling Interest<\/span><\/p>\n

The strategy for curbing the negative effects of social media, though, must include passing several pieces of legislation. We must ensure social media platforms cannot target children through algorithms, getting them hooked on what executives themselves have described as a thoroughly addictive product. Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, said in a 2017 interview that the question he and his colleagues asked when designing their website was: \u201cHow do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?\u201d84<\/a><\/sup>Dave Lee, Facebook founding president sounds alarm<\/em>, BBC<\/span> (Nov. 9, 2017), https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-41936791 [https:\/\/perma.cc\/GZ7X-SR2M].<\/span> The answer to that question, he explained, is to \u201cgive you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or post or whatever. And that\u2019s going to get you to contribute more content, and that\u2019s going to get you . . . more likes and comments.\u201d85<\/a><\/sup>Id.<\/em><\/span> The social media companies, as Parker\u2019s comments and Meta\u2019s internal research indicate, know the potential consequences their products can have. It is incumbent on the representatives of the American people to meet our responsibility to safeguard our citizenry from threats, especially those most vulnerable: our children.<\/p>\n

The Stop the Scroll Act will be an effective way to ensure social media users understand potential risks before deciding for themselves whether they would like to proceed to an app or website, drawing from the medical data available regarding the effects of prolonged social media use and the downstream consequences thereof. The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act takes a two-pronged approach to the issue, making sure social media companies take care to prevent content related to self-harm, eating disorders, or other similar topics from appearing on children\u2019s screens. The prevalence of legitimately unsafe materials on social media is a very real concern; the ease with which interest in, say, fitness could soon turn to exclusively seeing content related to anorexia is troubling\u2014and it\u2019s even more troubling when looking at the data showing the rate of anorexia among American college students increased 100 percent in the 2010s.86<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>HAIDT<\/span>, supra <\/em>note 22, at 26.<\/span> It would also protect the information of minors under seventeen and allow parents more deference in managing their children\u2019s use of social media.87<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Kids Online Safety Act, supra<\/em> note 58.<\/span> The Kids Off Social Media Act may be, depending on one\u2019s priorities, the most important of the three bills; it establishes a law to govern the age restriction social media companies already claim to use but do not enforce.88<\/a><\/sup>See <\/em>Kids Off Social Media Act, supra<\/em> note 69.<\/span> Available research tells us the most vulnerable time for children regarding social media use is the age group largely corresponding with the adolescent years.89<\/a><\/sup>Jacqueline Nesi, Sophia Choukas-Bradley & Mitchell J. Prinstein, Transformation of Adolsecent Peer Relations in the Social Media Context: Part 1<\/em>\u2014A Theoretical Framework and Application to Dyadic Peer Relationships<\/em>, 21 CLINICAL TRIAL AND FAM. PSYCH. REV.<\/span> 267, 267\u201368 (2018). <\/span> It is incredibly important to ensure kids under the age of thirteen are not accessing social media, rewiring their brains to respond to online stimuli and drawing them away from their friends, families, and real-world hobbies.90<\/a><\/sup>Vivek Murthy, Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General\u2019s Advisory (2023)<\/em>, https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf [https:\/\/perma.cc\/M45D-6P5D].<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the staggering statistics regarding youth mental health issues and their relationship to social media use, not all is lost. Though lawmakers and thought leaders in the United States may be late to the game in recognizing the risks these apps and websites present, the wave of literature surrounding the issue does signal a growing appreciation of the urgent need to do something to stem the tide of our youth mental illness epidemic. Increased attention is not enough, of course. The U.S. government has a responsibility to the people we serve to enact legislation to combat the mental health crisis and its ties to social media use.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[*]<\/a> Senator Katie Boyd Britt has represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate since 2023. She is the first Republican woman from her state to serve in the upper chamber of Congress. Senator Britt sits on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, where she chairs the Homeland Security Subcommittee; the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Development, where she chairs the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee; the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Senator Britt received her J.D. and B.A. from the University of Alabama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Senator Katie Boyd Britt \u2022 The advent of social media in the first decade of the 21st century promised a new era of connectedness; instead, we are more isolated than ever \u2014 especially our youth. The ubiquity of social media platforms has played a leading role in a mental health crisis plaguing American adolescents. As a United States Senator, I believe our government has a compelling interest in acting to counter these disturbing trends. In this Essay, I discuss a comprehensive policy agenda the U.S. government should pursue to safeguard young Americans from the harms social media can cause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"Vol. 62 No. 2","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-4335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-print","tag-volume-62-2-summer-2025"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQ7o-17V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}