In tandem with Mental Health Awareness Month, lawmakers from a few states teamed up with advocates for social media warning labels, including Mothers Against Media Addiction and the Kids Code Coalition, to support nationwide warning labels to address the youth mental health crisis. A push to advance social media warning label legislation is slated to expand in California, Minnesota, New York and Texas in 2026.
Warning label legislation is the latest path lawmakers are taking to protect children online.
“Requiring warning labels on addictive social media is intended to alert parents and young users to the real documented harms of excessive social media use,” Nily Rozic, New York Assemblywoman and author of New York’s A5346, said. “We know that we have to step up right now, in this moment, because our kids are paying the price. This is about saving lives.”
Kids Code Coalition is made up of a wide cross-section of organizations and lawmakers nationwide who “support policies that hold tech companies responsible for prioritizing the safety and well-being of young people through every stage of product design.”
“For too long, we’ve allowed algorithms to steal our children’s attention and interfere with school time and family time, with zero accountability for these companies for the harms they are causing,” Julie Scelfo, founder and executive director of Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA), said. “Warning labels are a trusted, effective public health tool with a long track record of raising awareness about risks—especially among young people. Our kids want their lives back. We parents want our kids to have their lives back. And social media warning labels are a big part of how we get there.”
During a press conference, advocates of the social media warning label legislation “emphasized the need for urgent action to address the youth mental health crisis and to highlight nationwide momentum in support of warning labels.”
“Just like we put warning labels on cigarettes to make sure that Americans knew that it was causing cancer and hurting their health, we need to do the same thing with social media,” Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, California Assemblymember and author of California’s AB56. “When we work across the country in tandem on protecting children, we are stronger.”
To learn more about Kids Code Coalition, click here.
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