NCT07199660

Reactions to Social Media Warning Labels Among Teens and Young Adults

An Evaluation of Social Media Warning Labels for Teens and Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,012 (actual)
• Sponsor: Stanford University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 13 Years – 29 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate whether social media warnings are perceived as more effective than control labels among teens and young adults, and to identify the most promising topics for social media warnings for these age groups. A secondary objective is to compare perceived message effectiveness of warnings refined using artificial intelligence (AI) vs. those not refined using AI.

Detailed description

Participants will complete a within-subjects online randomized experiment in which they will view and rate messages on the risk of social media use. Participants will view messages about 9 topics: 8 warning topics and 1 control topic. The 8 warning topics include 7 potential mandatory warnings (depression and anxiety, body image, addiction, sleep, mental health harms to children, not been proven safe, and California's proposed warning) and 1 voluntary warning (similar to a message used on TikTok to encourage users to take breaks). For each topic, participants will view 1-2 messages and respond to survey items about that message. All messages will be shown in random order.

Conditions

• Screen Time Exposure

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Human-developed negative body image warning	Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to negative body. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Voluntary warning	Participants will view a message suggesting user take a break from scrolling on social media. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Human-developed depression and anxiety warning	Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to depression and anxiety. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Human-developed addiction warning	Participants will view a message warning that social media can be addictive. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Human-developed sleep warning	Participants will view a message that social media use can contribute to poor sleep quality. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Human-developed mental health harms to young people warning	Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to mental health harms for some young people. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Human-developed warning that social media has not been proven safe	Participants will view a message warning that the use of social media has not been proven safe for young people. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Control message	Participants will view a message about encouraging seatbelt use while traveling in a vehicle.
BEHAVIORAL	California's proposed social media warning	Participants will view a message warning about the harms of social media use that mirrors the language the state of California has proposed for mandatory social media warnings.
BEHAVIORAL	Artificial-intelligence-developed depression and anxiety warning	Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to depression and anxiety. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Artificial-intelligence-developed negative body image warning	Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to negative body. The message was developed using artificial intelligence
BEHAVIORAL	Artificial-intelligence-developed addiction warning	Participants will view a message warning that social media can be addictive. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Artificial-intelligence-developed sleep warning	Participants will view a message that social media use can contribute to poor sleep quality. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Artificial-intelligence-developed mental health harms to young people warning	Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to mental health harms for some young people. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.
BEHAVIORAL	Artificial-intelligence-developed warning that social media has not been proven safe	Participants will view a message warning that the use of social media has not been proven safe for young people. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-12-02
• Primary completion: 2025-12-16
• Completion: 2025-12-16
• First posted: 2025-09-30
• Last updated: 2026-03-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States