Social media: Add tobacco-style warnings to protect children, says US surgeon general

Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, has called for Congress to put warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those on cigarettes, to protect children from mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

In an essay published in the New York Times on 17 June,1 Murthy said that such labels would remind children and parents that social media use has not been proved to be safe. Last year he issued an advisory about social media use and mental health in young people.2

He said that social media use was contributing to a …