OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond joined a coalition of state attorneys general calling on legislators to pass legislation requiring a U.S. attorney general warning on all algorithm-driven social media platforms.
Drummond and 41 other attorneys general united in sending a letter to Congress which was written amid concern that social media companies are causing generational harm to young people’s mental health.
The attorneys general cited voluminous research that link young people’s social media use to psychological harm, including depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts. They contend that social media platforms are equipped with algorithmic recommendations, infinite scrolling and a constant stream of notifications engineered to keep kids ceaselessly engaged, even at the expense of taking breaks, engaging in other activities or sleeping.
A warning about the addictiveness of social media would underscore the adverse effects of such platforms on young people, according to Drummond.
“American children are in the throes of a mental health crisis. While social media addiction is not the sole culprit, there is no denying that it is a significant factor,” he said. “Parents and young people deserve to be fully informed of the situation.”
Drummond filed a lawsuit against Meta, last October, for knowingly designing and deploying harmful features on its various platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. He and other attorneys general are also investigating whether TikTok intentionally designed its platform to make it more addictive to young people.
The attorneys general say additional action is necessary because “social media platforms have demonstrated an unwillingness to fix the problem on their own.”
Nearly all young people in the nation use social media. Up to 95 percent of young people ages 13-17 say they use a social media platform. More than a third of those young people say they use social media “almost constantly,” according to a report from U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.
Attorneys general from the following states also signed the letter to Congress: Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
