When Mayor Eric Adams declared his health commissioner was “officially designating social media as a public health crisis hazard in New York City,” he pledged the city would take action to protect minors as platforms like TikTok and Facebook push “addictive and dangerous features.”
But despite the language Adams used in his State of the City address last month, New York law doesn’t define a “public health crisis hazard.” Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan’s advisory doesn’t imbue the city with any new authority to combat what Adams called a growing mental health crisis. And no new regulations affect how students can use social media, or how platforms can operate in New York, at least for now.
Instead, public health officials say it serves as a call for the public, the administration and lawmakers to take the risks of social media seriously. Gothamist spoke to public health experts about the value of that kind of health advisory and its potential pitfalls.
“The most important thing here is that we are raising an alarm,” Vasan told WNYC in interview about the social media advisory.
It’s not an “emergency” … or an “order”
A commissioner’s advisory simply provides the public with guidance on “urgent health issues of concern,” according to Patrick Gallahue, a spokesperson for the city health department.
The last such advisory Vasan issued urged New Yorkers to take advantage of existing city resources to equip themselves with naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication, in response to a growing number of overdoses. Gallahue did not respond to a request for information on whether there was any uptick in demand for naloxone or training following the advisory.
An advisory can’t leverage resources in the same way as a city or state executive order declaring a public health emergency. For instance, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s emergency declaration around mpox in 2022 made more categories of health care professionals eligible to administer…
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