San Diego County takes stand against social media companies

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to join a growing trend nationwide to restrict youth access to social media platforms.

After failing in a split vote last month, with Chair Nora Vargas absent, the board once again took on the matter Tuesday. This time, the proposal to explore suing social media companies over their platforms’ effects on young people’s well-being passed on a 3-2 vote along party lines.

“It is important to do everything we can to protect the social-emotional health and well-being of children,” said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who brought the motion forward. “I am proud that today our county took action to hold opportunistic social media companies accountable and push them to change the way they do business.”

It was not immediately clear when a lawsuit might be filed.

Lawson-Remer’s proposal comes as the mental and psychological health of teens and young adults has continued to decline over the last decade.

In 2021, 42 percent of high school students in the U.S. reported depressive symptoms — up 14 percent since 2011. County health data confirms this trend.

The increase comes as U.S. teens are spending on average about five hours each day on social media apps, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, a 2023 Gallup survey found.

The American Psychological Association issued a health advisory last year on the matter that examined the connections between social media use and rising depression and anxiety among youth ages 10 to 25 years old.

“What makes this particularly disturbing is that it’s deliberate,” Lawson-Remer said. “Major social media companies have created algorithms and features that are deliberately … designed to capitalize on our youth’s vulnerabilities and drive engagement … in order to maximize their profits.”

Although Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, both Republicans, voted against the proposal, they acknowledged the adverse effects social media has on youth.

Reiterating his sentiments from last month’s meeting, Desmond said, “It’s kind of a question of, ‘Where does government end and parenting begin?”

Desmond said educating parents and kids about social media would take more than a lawsuit, which he says won’t stop any of the bullying, anxiety or violence children experience online.

However, Lawson-Remer said any damages recovered as a result of litigation could help the county do just that, pointing to similar legal action against gun manufacturers and opioid manufacturers.

As of last month, nearly 500 lawsuits against social media companies are pending in federal court in Northern California, according to Lawson-Remer’s office.

The board also agreed to adopt a resolution in support of the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s call for social media platforms to require warning labels.