Statement by Commissioner Nikki Fried on U.S. Senate Hearing on Negative Effects of Social Media on Mental Health

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried issued the following statement on the U.S. Senate Commerce Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing titled “Protecting Kids Online: Facebook, Instagram, and Mental Health Harms.” This important hearing was held on the last day of Suicide Prevention Month and follows the recent publication of internal reports that show Facebook has repeatedly found that usage of its photo-sharing application Instagram can be harmful to a significant percentage of young users – particularly impacting the body-image and mental health of teen girls.

“As Commissioner of the department tasked with consumer safety in Florida, I believe we have a responsibility to protect our children from products that are unsafe or harmful – and that includes social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. We need to hold these companies accountable and keep kids safe from content that is detrimental to their mental health.

“It is imperative that these companies change their algorithms, so they no longer profit off of manipulating and negatively impacting the well-being of young girls. This is personal to me as the aunt of a young niece growing up in the digital world, and as a woman who has encountered her fair share of toxic content targeting me on social media. Rather than picking fake fights with social media companies for enforcing reasonable standards to prevent the spread of misinformation, we need to hold Big Tech accountable for the real harm that they are causing in our communities.”

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