Minnesota lawmakers push for social media warning labels to protect kids’ mental health – Austin Daily Herald

By Dana Ferguson

Tabbatha Urbanski’s son, Seth, was weeks away from his 18th birthday when he fatally overdosed on fentanyl in 2022.

The teen had been out of rehab for weeks when he contacted a drug dealer on the site Snapchat to buy Percocet. Urbanski thought he’d gone to rest. But when she found him the next morning, it was too late.

“At 7:38 a.m. I found my beautiful son sitting at the end of his bed dead,” Urbanski said. “He was gone.”

Urbanski choked up earlier this year as she showed lawmakers a framed photo of Seth.

“I have to live with that picture of my baby boy in my mind for the rest of my life. This is what I have left of my son. Pictures,” she said.

Urbanski said her son experienced anxiety and depression, in part from using social media. And she is pressing the Legislature to act to prevent other young people from facing mental health impacts — or obtaining potentially harmful substances through the apps.

She supports an effort advancing at the Capitol to require warning labels on the platforms and pop-up messages every 30 minutes notifying users about how long they’ve spent on a site.

“Children should be able to learn from their mistakes and not die from them,” Urbanski said. “And eliminating easy access to drug dealers is a step in the right direction.”

Rep. Zack Stephenson carried the bill and agrees social media should have health warnings similar to those on cigarettes or alcohol.

“We’re failing kids, and we’re failing parents because we’re not adopting the public policy solutions we need to control this problem,” he said. “We’re going to look back at this time and social media companies the same way today (that) we look back at Big Tobacco in the ‘50s and ‘60s.”

The DFLer from Coon Rapids says requiring pop-up notices could encourage kids to step away.

Last year, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urged warning labelsbe placed on the sites. He pointed to research indicating that prolonged social media use can lead to worse mental health outcomes, higher rates of eating disorders and body image issues among children and adolescents.

Stephenson said Minnesota should adopt that recommendation.

“We need to do something about this problem,” Stephenson said during a hearing on the bill. “Warning labels are not the end all be all. It’s not a complete solution. But you know, this is not a case where there is a silver bullet. We’re going to need silver buckshot.”

Failure to add the labels could be met with investigation and civil punishment. Users would have to acknowledge that the sites pose a potential risk in order to proceed in using them. Social media platforms would also have to provide resources to address adverse mental health outcomes — like contacts for the Suicide and Crisis Hotline 988.

Zach Lilly represents NetChoice, a group that speaks for dozens of tech companies. If approved, Lily said the measure could be met with legal action over free speech and free expression.

“The reality is that social media platforms are speech platforms, and any attempt to regulate them needs to seriously contend with the First Amendment,” Lilly said. “Would it be appropriate for the government to force a new station, newspaper or blog of an independent journalist to publish a warning label about their writing? Is that the government’s right to dissuade citizens from engaging with First Amendment protected speech?”

Lilly said there’s a lack of specific consensus around the impact of social media use on mental or physical health, so any labels would just convey a political opinion. Some Republicans echoed free speech concerns as the bill moved along. But others support the provision.

“The kids today that are so addicted to screens and what it’s doing to them, and it’s doing something we are going to look back on this day. We’re going to look back, I’m going to look back on it with my grandkids and my great grandkids, and I’m going to wonder how we could have done more,” said Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls. “This is eating their brains away.”

The measure passed with bipartisan support in the House health budget bill. It will be a subject of negotiations with the Senate, which hasn’t included the proposal in its broader health budget.

The Legislature is tumbling toward its May 19 deadline to adjourn, but it could take a special session to finish the work.