Statement on Surgeon General’s Call for Social Media Warning Label
A parent mentioned in the Surgeon General’s op-ed and Fairplay’s Executive Director responded to the
Surgeon General’s call for a warning label on social media platforms.
Washington, DC – June 17, 2024 – Lori Schott, a ParentsSOS member whom Surgeon General Vivek Murthy mentions in his New York Times op-ed calling for a warning label on social media platforms, and Josh Golin, Executive Director of Fairplay, released the following statements today.
ParentsSOS member Lori Schott, whom the Surgeon General mentions in his op-ed, said: “As a parent who has experienced the devastating consequences of online harms, I wholeheartedly support the Surgeon General’s call for warning labels on social media. These labels are a crucial step in educating parents and young users about the significant risks associated with these platforms.
“Protecting our children’s safety online should be our utmost priority, and that’s why I continue to advocate for the Kids Online Safety Act. My fellow survivor parents and I agree that just as we have strict warnings and regulations for car seats, baby formula and the like, we must also ensure that parents and children are fully informed about the real dangers that social media can pose.”
Fairplay Executive Director Josh Golin said: “Social media today is like tobacco decades ago: It’s a product whose business model depends on addicting kids. And as with cigarettes, a surgeon general’s warning label is a critical step toward mitigating the threat to children.
“As Dr. Murthy himself points out, it’s not sufficient. We need legislation to ensure that social media and other online platforms are not harming or addicting young people with their deliberate design choices. The best opportunity for that is the Kids Online Safety Act, which already has the support of 70 senators. Congress must pass this legislation now before more children die as a result of Big Tech’s greed and our government’s inaction.”
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Parents for Safe Online Spaces (ParentsSOS), is an educational initiative created by families who have lost children as a result of online harms. The initiative’s goal is to raise awareness about the importance of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a piece of legislation addressing growing concern about the impact of online and social media platforms on children and teens. The initiative can be found on X as @Parents4SOS, on Facebook as Parents for Safe Online Spaces, and online at https://www.parentssos.org/.
Fairplay is the leading nonprofit organization committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children. Fairplay advocates for policies that both protect children when they are online and help young people get the offline time they need to thrive. For more information visit https://fairplayforkids.org/.