“Fetterman Takes Action Against Social Media Harms with the Stop the Scroll Act” | Politics

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., spoke on bipartisan laws he launched Tuesday to warn dad and mom about the dangerous results of social media, saying his efforts are “common sense.”

Fetterman and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., launched the Stop the Scroll Act to create psychological well being warning label necessities for social media platforms. 

The bipartisan act would guarantee “all users, especially children and teens, are aware of the potential mental health risks associated with social media use” and would require social media firms to direct customers towards psychological well being sources, in response to a press release from Fetterman's workplace.

THE WAR TO SAVE OUR TEENS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

Discussing the laws Tuesday on “Special Report” shortly after it was launched, Fetterman stated he and Britt crossed the aisle to associate on the act as a result of their obligation as dad and mom to guard their kids supersedes any political variations they could have.

Sen. John Fetterman walks by means of the Senate subway in the Capitol after a vote on May 15, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc through Getty Images)

“It's common sense,” Fetterman informed “Special Report” anchor and government editor Bret Baier. “It's what a parent would want. If you have a person that's spending hours and hours every day with one of your kids, you would want to know who that person is about.”

“I've witnessed that with my own children, the negative impact that it's had on them, even in myself too,” he added. “It's a conversation that we would be having as a parent — let alone as a senator — so I think it's an entirely appropriate conversation that we should be having at a national level.”

Fetterman beforehand revealed that social media made his battle with scientific melancholy tougher, saying in a “Meet the Press” interview in 2023 that studying feedback about him and his household was a serious a part of the melancholy that resulted in six weeks of hospitalization. 

“It’s an accelerant, absolutely,” Fetterman stated at the time.

SOCIAL MEDIA WARNINGS WON'T PROTECT KIDS, BUT SOMETHING ELSE WILL

Britt cited the psychological well being disaster amongst youngsters in the United States as her motivation for the invoice.

Sen. Katie Britt speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“John and I are approaching this not just as senators, but as parents — and we believe that parents need all the information,” she informed Baier.

“When children are on social media, their rate of anxiety and depression increases,” she added, noting that many kids common 5 hours on social media per day. 

“It really is the defining issue right now for our children, and it's important that we do something — doing nothing is not an option,” she stated. 

“This is a bipartisan issue. This isn't Democrat or Republican — this is an American issue, and it's one that we've got to get ahead of because it's already ahead of us,” she later added.

Britt and Fetterman established a relationship in the Senate previous to engaged on the invoice, they stated. Britt visited Fetterman throughout his hospitalization, and their households have remained shut ever since, they informed Baier.

“I think some people think that we must hate each other's guts in D.C., [saying], ‘Oh, you're a Republican, I'm a Democrat,' but it's just not true. It couldn't be further from the truth,” Fetterman stated. 

Social media purposes are seen on an iPhone display on this illustration picture on Sept. 23, 2024. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto through Getty Images)

The Stop the Scroll Act comes after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for social media companies to be required to show psychological well being warnings to defend younger folks from “online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content that too often appears in algorithm-driven feeds.”

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“The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor. Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours. Additionally, nearly half of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies,” he wrote in a New York Times choice article.