Public Support for Warning Label Policies on Social Media Among U.S. Adults in 2024

Abstract

Introduction

Health warning labels are used across several regulatory spaces to warn consumers about potentially harmful products. The study goal was to assess U.S. adults’ public opinions about health warning label policies on social media in general and for commercial tobacco/nicotine products specifically in response to a call from the U.S. Surgeon General on health warning label policies on social media. This study examined support by political party affiliation.

Methods

A nationally representative online survey was conducted in September 2024 among U.S. adults. Respondents indicated how much they strongly agreed (5) or strongly disagreed (1) with 5 statements about social media health warning labels, including mental health, influencer promotions, and tobacco/nicotine products. Log binomial regression models were constructed to estimate relative support prevalence by political affiliation. Analyses were conducted in 2024–2025.

Results

U.S. adults, regardless of political affiliation, generally supported social media health warning label policies, including agreeing/strongly agreeing that social media platforms should be required to have warning labels on posts promoting any tobacco product (81.2% of Democrats, 74.8% of Republicans). Democrats and Republicans were also closely aligned in support of influencer disclosures generally (82.9% and 80.5%, respectively) and in their support that social media platforms should do more to warn youth about the harms of vaping (82.4% and 77.2%, respectively). Democrats generally expressed the highest levels of support, whereas those who identified as independent or with no affiliation generally expressed the lowest levels of support.

Conclusions

Adding sponsored content disclosures and health warning labels to social media platforms and related posts is generally supported by U.S. adults, showing promise for policy adoption and implementation.