‘Negative impact’: Fetterman introduces the Stop the Scroll Act to address social media harm

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., spoke about the bipartisan legislation he introduced Tuesday to warn parents about the harmful effects of social media, saying his efforts are “common sense.”

Fetterman and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., introduced the Stop the Scroll Act to create mental health warning label requirements for social media platforms.

The bipartisan bill would ensure that “all users, especially children and teens, are aware of the potential mental health risks associated with social media use” and would require social media companies to refer users to mental health care, according to a news release from Fetterman’s office. .

THE WAR TO SAVE OUR teens from social media

Discussing the legislation in Tuesday’s “Special Report” shortly after it was introduced, Fetterman said he and Britt crossed the aisle to work together because their duty as parents to protect their children transcends any possible political differences.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., walks through the Senate subway at the Capitol after a vote on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. ((Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images))

“It’s common sense,” Fetterman told Special Report host and editor-in-chief Bret Baier. “It’s what a parent would want. If you have someone who spends hours and hours with one of your children every day, you would want to know who that person is about.”

“I have seen in my own children the negative impact it has had on them, even on myself,” he added. “It’s a conversation that we should be having as a parent — let alone as a senator — so I think it’s a completely appropriate conversation that we should be having at the national level.”

Fetterman previously revealed that social media made his battle with clinical depression more difficult, saying in a 2023 “Meet the Press” interview that reading comments about him and his family was a major part of the depression that resulted in six weeks hospitalization.

“It’s definitely an accelerator,” Fetterman said at the time.

SOCIAL MEDIA WARNINGS WILL NOT PROTECT CHILDREN, BUT SOMETHING ELSE WILL

Britt cited the mental health crisis among teens in the United States as her motivation for the bill.

U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) speaks on stage during the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ((Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

“John and I approach this not just as senators, but as parents – and we believe parents need all the information,” she told Baier.

“When children use social media, their anxiety and depression increase,” she added, noting that many children spend an average of five hours a day on social media.

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

“This is a bipartisan issue. This is not Democratic or Republican – this is an American issue, and it’s one we need to be at the forefront of because it’s already before us,” she later added.

Britt and Fetterman had built a relationship in the Senate before working on the bill, they said. Britt visited Fetterman during his hospitalization and their families have remained close since then, they told Baier.

“I think some people think we have to hate each other’s guts in DC, saying, ‘Oh, you’re a Republican, I’m a Democrat,’ but that’s just not true. It couldn’t be further from the truth,” Fetterman said.

This illustration photo from September 23, 2024 shows social media applications on an iPhone screen. ((Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images))

The Stop the Scroll Act comes after US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for it social media companies be required to display mental health warnings to protect young people from “online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content that is all too common in algorithm-driven feeds.”

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“The youth mental health crisis is an emergency – and social media has proven to be a major contributor. Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media are at double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group was 4.8 hours in summer 2023. Additionally, nearly half of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies,” he wrote in a New York Times option article.