Cigarette Labels Were Bad. Social Media Labels Would Be Worse.
The tobacco industry used the warnings to avoid regulation and liability. Big Tech could do the same.
Labels aren’t the answer.
Photographer: Shelby Knowles/Bloomberg
Last week, Vivek Murthy, surgeon general of the United States, warned that the use of social media among adolescents has contributed to a surge in anxiety and depression. In a widely read op-ed, he argued that Congress should take action, forcing the social media giants to attach warning labels on their products in much the same ways that it did with cigarette makers.
This may sound like a good idea, but the history of cigarette labels suggests otherwise. That earlier effort at warning consumers underscores how such well-intentioned measures can easily end up serving the interests of the corporations they were meant to regulate.