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The Street
The Street
Ross Kohan

Most state attorneys general agree social media is a problem

Transcript:

Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.

Disinflation is the buzz word for the day - that’s when price gains are slowing instead of outright falling. Such is the case with the latest inflation numbers. Consumer prices rose just 0.2 percent in August, according to the Labor Department, matching the prior month’s gain. The CPI is up 2.5 percent from a year ago, in the slowest annual gain in 3-1/2 years. The Federal Reserve will take that into consideration when it meets in September.

Turning now to other headlines: Attorneys General from 42 states - from both sides of the political aisle - are banding together to demand a warning label for social media sites in order to protect kids.

In a letter to Congress the state officials wrote, “As state Attorneys General, we sometimes disagree about important issues, but all of us share an abiding concern for the safety of the kids in our jurisdictions - and algorithm-driven social media platforms threaten that safety.”

Specifically, the group pointed to what it referred to as a growing body of evidence linking social media addiction for young adults and a mental health crisis, “including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.”

These state top cops are urging the federal government to step up after many of their states have done all they can to limit social media.

The letter to Congress follows up a June New York Times op-ed from Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who wasn’t shy about comparing the harmful effects of using TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and others apps - to the harm done by smoking cigarettes.

That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.

Related: Surgeon General calls for warning label on social media platforms

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