Social Media Warning Label Bill Gets Bipartisan Support

Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) is working with a Republican senator from Alabama to push for a mental health warning label on social media platforms.

The Philly Inquirer reports Fetterman and Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.) introduced the Stop the Scroll Act on Tuesday. The bill, if passed into law, would require the surgeon general to design a warning label system enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. The label would appear as a pop-up box warning users about the potential mental health risks of using social media and providing links to mental health resources every time a user opens a platform like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or X. Users would need to acknowledge the warning before continuing to the platform.

“Find anybody that is like ‘Hey, I just spent an hour on social media and I feel better about the world and about myself,’” Fetterman said in a Tuesday appearance with Britt on Fox News. “I’ve never met one, but if there is one, I’d like to meet them.”

In the interview on Fox host Bret Baier’s “Common Ground” segment, Fetterman and Britt described themselves as friends who bonded during their freshman orientation in the U.S. Senate — along with each other’s spouses, Gisele Fetterman and former New England Patriots player Wesley Britt.

Sen. Britt visited Fetterman when he was in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for major depression last year following his near-fatal stroke and election win in 2022.

Fetterman said in the interview that he has witnessed the negative impact of social media both on himself and on his children. The two senators said they have bonded over their experiences as elected officials with children, which directly ties to their support for the bill. Fetterman has three children and Britt has two.