Ex-Surgeon General says social media needs to be regulated "similar to cigarettes"
Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in President Trump's first term, said that "similar to cigarettes," the government needs to point out that social media platforms "are incredibly addictive."
Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Sunday that social media platforms are "specifically designed to addict" adolescents and teenagers "similar to cigarettes" were marketed to young users by manufacturers earlier, and there needs to be regulation to reflect that.
"We know, based on Surgeon General [Vivek] Murthy's report, that there is increasing and very valid evidence out there showing links between social media use, particularly at a younger age, and increasing anxiety, increasing depression, less sleep, which actually leads to mental health problems and also obesity," Adams said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan ."
Murthy, who served as surgeon general in the Biden administration, said in a 2023 report that technology companies and lawmakers should take "immediate action" by formulating policies to protect young people from "addictive apps and extreme and inappropriate content" on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
"And we're hearing again in these [social media addiction] lawsuits that they were specifically designed to addict children, again, the way cigarette manufacturers tried to addict children back in the day," Adams added.
In a landmark decision on Wednesday, a jury in California found Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and YouTube liable for creating platforms that knowingly caused mental health-related harm to young users and failed to disclose those dangers. The plaintiff, who went by the name Kaley G.M., was awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages.