Is Scrolling the New Smoking?

By: Lauren Scribner

In the final weeks of 2025, New York passed a law requiring social media platforms with “certain predatory features” to display warning labels about “the dangerous impact” those features pose to the mental health of users under the age of eighteen.[1] These so-called “predatory features” include continuous and infinite scrolling, displaying addictive feeds, and automatically playing video content.[2]  Warning labels will be displayed upon the initial use of the “predatory feature” and “periodically thereafter, based on continued use.”[3] Users will not have an option to bypass or skip the warnings.

In support of the new measure, New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated, “[w]ith the amount of information that can be shared online, it is essential that we prioritize mental health and take the steps necessary to ensure that people are aware of any potential risks.”[4] Her announcement of the new law likens social media to other products known to cause serious health risks—including death—such as tobacco causing cancer, plastic packaging causing suffocation, and alcohol causing birth defects during pregnancy and impairment while driving. But is social media on par with these other demonstrably deadly products?

According to a report issued by the U.S. Surgeon General, the danger lies in the fact that social media is a place where adolescents are “commonly exposed to extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content” such as eating disorders, hate-based content, and incidents of self-harm. Moreover, studies indicate the average teenager spends more than three hours on social media per day, which doubles the user’s “risk of poor mental health[,] including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety.”[5] Frequent social media use can also negatively impact important areas of psychological and physiological development, such as self-esteem and sleep quality and duration.[6]

To combat these risks, the report’s first recommendation is for policymakers to strengthen safety standards and limit social media access for adolescents.[7] But New York is not exactly ahead of the game with its imposition of warnings. In 2024, Colorado became the first state to require social media warning labels,[8] with Minnesota[9] and California[10] closely following suit.

Outside of the U.S., countries appear to be taking a more extreme approach to combating the dangers of social media on the adolescent brain. For example, this fall, Australia instituted an outright ban on social media access for users under the age of sixteen.[11] In addition to some of the concerns cited in conjunction with the New York law, a study commissioned by the Australian government found that nearly 14% of children aged 10-15 “reported experiencing grooming-type behaviour from adults or older children, and more than half said they had been the victim of cyberbullying.”[12] Australia called on social media companies to use “multiple age assurance technologies” to enforce the ban, such as “government IDs, face or voice recognition, or so-called ‘age inference,’ which analyses online behaviour and interactions to estimate a person’s age.”[13] And other countries, such as Denmark and France, are projected to follow suit by banning social media access outright for users even younger—those under the age of fifteen.[14]

But if social media is as harmful to adolescents as this data suggests, why are states settling for warnings and not imposing outright bans like other countries? The answer to that question largely lies with First Amendment protections. States that have attempted to impose bans, such as Arkansas and Ohio, were blocked by judicial rulings that “restricting minor access to social media platforms is a violation of the First Amendment as a content-based restriction on speech.”[15] Because an age-based social media ban can be argued to be restricting access to speech based on content, courts have found that it is not narrowly tailored to protecting adolescents online.

Looking forward, many states have commissioned studies and enacted advisory councils for further research on the connection between social media use and adolescent mental health.[16] Until more formal findings are realized that may provide a clearer legal path toward outright bans, warning labels may be the most feasible option for states to inform adolescents about the dangers and risks of using social media. Time will tell if scrolling ultimately faces scrutiny and regulation like tobacco and whether bans on minor access might arise in the U.S., sparking significant First Amendment litigation.

[1] Governor Hochul Signs Legislation to Require Warning Labels on Socal Media Platforms, New York State Pressroom (Dec. 26, 2025), https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-signs-legislation-require-warning-labels-social-media-platforms (last accessed Jan. 2, 2026).

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advsory, U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Servs. Office of the Surgeon General (Feb. 19, 2025), https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/youth-mental-health/social-media/index.html (last accessed Jan. 2, 2026).

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Colo. HB 24-1136, accessible at: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1136.

[9] Minn. SF 1807, accessible at: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/94/2025/0/SF/1807/versions/0/

[10] Cal. AB-56, accessible at: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB56.

[11] Livingstone, Helen, Australia has banned social media for kids under 16. How will it work?, BBC (Dec. 10, 2025), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyp9d3ddqyo (last accessed Jan. 2, 2026).

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] Kirby, Paul, Ban social media for under-15s, says French report warning of TikTok risks, BBC (Sept. 11, 2025), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkjep23403o (last accessed Jan. 2, 2026); Keaten, Jamy, Denmark’s government aims to ban access to social media for children aged under 15, PBS (Nov. 7, 2025), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/denmarks-government-aims-to-ban-access-to-social-media-for-children-aged-under-15#:~:text=Denmark’s%20government%20on%20Friday%20announced%20an%20agreement,world%20of%20harmful%20content%20and%20commercial%20interests (last accessed Jan. 2, 2026).

[15] Dornsife, Sandy, Eight States Enact Minor Social Media Bans Despite Court Fights, Multistate (Oct. 8, 2025), https://www.multistate.us/insider/2025/10/8/eight-states-enact-minor-social-media-bans-despite-court-fights (last accessed: Jan. 2, 2026); see, e.g., NetChoice, LLC v. Tim Griffin, W.D. Ark. Case No. 5:23-cv-05105, Memorandum Opinion and Order filed Aug. 31, 2023, accessible at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/netchoice-v-griffin?document=Memorandum-Opinion-%26-Order-Preliminarily-Enjoining-the-Social-Media-Safety-Act#legal-documents; Ofodile, Uche Ewelukwa, Explainer: Teen Social Medial Law—The Ebbs and Flows in 2025, JuristNews (May 5, 2025), https://www.jurist.org/features/2025/05/05/teen-social-media-law-the-ebbs-and-flows-in-2025/ (last accessed: Jan. 2, 2026).

[16] Dornsife, supra note 15.