U.S. Surgeon General: We need to protect kids from social media risks immediately

Published

2 years ago

May 23, 2023

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United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy delivers remarks during a news conference with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki at the White House in Washington, July 15, 2021.

Tom Brenner | Reuters

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned in a new advisory Tuesday that widespread social media use among kids and teens poses a significant mental health risk that needs to be addressed immediately.

Such advisories are “reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action,” according to a report released by the Surgeon General’s office. The report is based on “a substantial review of the available evidence,” on the impact of social media.

It’s not the first time Murthy has called out social media as contributing to a public health threat. In 2021, he issued an advisory about the threat of Covid misinformation and called on social media companies to make changes that favor fact-based sources. He’s also previously said that age 13 is “too early” to use social media.

In the latest advisory, Murthy concedes that social media can have both positive and negative effects on kids. Social media is used almost universally among youth, the report says, with up to 95% of people between ages 13 and 17 reporting using it. The report says that social media use in kids and teens can result in both “heightened emotional sensitivity” that can lead to lower life satisfaction as well as positive spaces of community, information and self-expression. The sense of community young social media users may get online could be even more significant for kids from marginalized backgrounds, the report said.

“A majority of adolescents report that social media helps them feel more accepted (58%), like they have people who can support them through tough times (67%), like they have a place to show their creative side (71%), and more connected to what’s going on in their friends’ lives (80%),” according to the report.

Still, the downsides of social media use can also be impactful. It can lead to or exacerbate disordered eating, low self-esteem and depression, according to studies the Surgeon General’s office cited.

“At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents,” the report says. “We must acknowledge the growing body of research about potential harms, increase our collective understanding of the risks associated with social media use, and urgently take action to create safe and healthy digital environments that minimize harm and safeguard children’s and adolescents’ mental health and well-being during critical stages of development.”

Some areas where the Surgeon General’s office calls for more research include distinguishing the impact on the health of in-person versus digital social interactions, what kind of content results in the most harm to young users and what factors can protect kids from harmful effects of social media use.

Even though more research is needed, the Surgeon General warns that action can’t wait.

“Our children and adolescents don’t have the luxury of waiting years until we know the full extent of social media’s impact. Their childhoods and development are happening now,” the report says. “At a moment when we are experiencing a national youth mental health crisis, now is the time to act swiftly and decisively to protect children and adolescents from risk of harm.”

The warning dovetails with calls from parents, Congress and the president to pass laws that will create greater protections for kids online. Still, figuring out how to do that without unintentionally creating new harms to self-expression or privacy can be challenging.

The Surgeon General lays out several recommendations for policymakers, tech companies, parents and caregivers, young social media users and researchers. They include:

For policymakers:

Create “age-appropriate health and safety standards.”
Require more data privacy protections for kids.
Fund future research.
Support digital and media literacy education in schools.
Require tech companies to share health-related data.

For tech companies:

Run independent assessments on the impact of their products on kids.
Share findings and underlying data with researchers.
Have timely systems to address complaints and requests from young users and their families and educators.
Prioritize health and safety in designing products.

For parents and caregivers:

Set expectations about how technology should be used.
Create “tech-free zones” like at dinner or before bedtime.
Create shared practices around social media with other parents.

For kids and teens:

Seek help if they or a friend are being harmed by social media, like by finding expert information on the Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health or by calling or texting the suicide hotline 988 if they or a friend are in crisis.
Be careful about sharing too much information on social media
Report online harassment or abuse.

For researchers:

Determine best practices for healthy social media use.
Create standardized definitions and measurements to discuss social media and mental health outcomes.
Determine the role of the developmental stage on the progression of poor mental health outcomes as a result of social media use.

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Technology

Applied Materials shares sink 10% on light forecast amid macroeconomic uncertainties

Published

14 hours ago

August 14, 2025

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Applied Materials shares sink 10% on light forecast amid macroeconomic uncertainties

The Applied Materials logo on Dec. 17, 2024.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Applied Materials shares sank more than 10% in extended trading Thursday as the semiconductor equipment company provided outlook for the current quarter that came in light.

Here’s how Applied Materials did in its third-quarter earnings results versus LSEG consensus estimates:

EPS: $2.48, adjusted, versus $2.36 estimated.
Revenue: $7.3 billion vs $7.22 billion estimated.

Applied Materials said it expects $2.11 per share in adjusted earnings in the current quarter, lower than LSEG estimates of $2.39 per share. The company said to expect $6.7 billion in revenue, versus $7.34 billion estimated.

CEO Gary Dickerson said that the current macroeconomic and policy environment is “creating increased uncertainty and lower visibility.” He said the company’s China business is particularly effected by the uncertainty.

The Trump administration’s tariffs could double the price of imported chips unless companies buying them commit to building in the U.S. Applied Materials makes tools for chip foundries to physically make chips, much of which currently happens in Asia.

Applied Materials said that it has a large backlog of pending export license applications with the U.S. government, but that it’s assuming none of them will be issued in the next quarter.

“We are expecting a decline in revenue in the fourth quarter driven by both digestion of capacity in China and non-linear demand from leading-edge customers given market concentration and fab timing,” the company’s finance chief said in a statement. He added that it expected lower China business to continue for several more quarters.

Applied Materials reported $1.78 billion in net income, or $2.22 per diluted share in the quarter, versus $1.71 billion or $2.05 in the year-ago period.

The company’s most important division, semiconductor systems, reported $5.43 billion in sales, topping estimates, and representing a 10% rise from last year.

Applied Materials was praised by President Donald Trump earlier this month after it was included in an Apple program to make more chips in the U.S.

Apple said it would partner with the chipmaker to produce more manufacturing equipment in Austin, Texas.

WATCH: Apple and Trump detail $100 billion U.S. spending expansion: Here’s what to know

Technology

Intel stock climbs 7% on report Trump administration is considering stake in chipmaker

Published

15 hours ago

August 14, 2025

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Lip-Bu Tan, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., departs following a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.

Alex Wroblewski | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Intel shares rose 7% on Thursday after Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is in talks with the chipmaker to have the U.S. government take a stake in the struggling company.

Intel is the only U.S. company with the capability to manufacture the fastest chips on U.S. shores, although rivals including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung also have U.S. factories. President Donald Trump has called for more chips and high technology to be manufactured in the U.S.

The government’s stake would help fund factories that Intel is currently building in Ohio, according to the report.

Earlier this week, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan visited Trump in the White House, a meeting that took place after the president had called for Tan’s resignation based on allegations he has ties to China.

Intel said at the time that Tan is “deeply committed to advancing U.S. national and economic security interests.” An Intel representative declined to comment about reports that the government is considering taking a stake in the company.

“We look forward to continuing our work with the Trump Administration to advance these shared priorities, but we are not going to comment on rumors or speculation,” the spokesperson said.

Tan took over Intel earlier this year after the chipmaker failed to gain significant share in artificial intelligence chips, while it was spending heavily to build its foundry business, which manufactures chips for other companies.

Intel’s foundry business has yet to secure a major customer, which would be a critical step in moving towards expansion and giving other potential customers the confidence to turn to Intel for manufacturing.

In July, Tan said that Intel was canceling plans for manufacturing sites in Germany and Poland and would slow down development in Ohio, adding that spending at the chipmaker would be closely scrutinized.

Under Trump, the U.S. government has increasingly moved to put itself at the center of deals in major industries. Last week, it said it would take 15% of certain Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices chip sales to China. The Pentagon bought a $400 million equity stake in rare-earth miner MP Materials. It also took a “golden share” in U.S. Steel as part of a deal to allow Nippon Steel to buy the U.S. industrial giant.

Intel shares are now up 19% this year after losing 60% of their value in 2024, the worst year on record for the chipmaker.

WATCH: Trump decision to allow chip sales to China is ‘reverse tariff’

Trump's decision to allow chip sales to China is 'reverse tariff' and we could see more such deals

Technology

Palantir’s astronomical growth in 3 charts

Published

18 hours ago

August 14, 2025

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Palantir's astronomical growth in 3 charts

Alexander Karp, chief executive officer and co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc.

Scott Eelis | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Palantir‘s astronomical rise since its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange in a 2020 direct listing has been nothing short of a whirlwind.

Over nearly five years, the Denver-based company, whose cofounders include renowned venture capitalist Peter Thiel and current CEO Alex Karp, has surged more than 1,700%. At the same time, its valuation has broken new highs, dwarfing some of the world’s technology behemoths with far greater revenues.

The artificial intelligence-powered software company continued its ascent last week after posting its first quarter with more than $1 billion in revenue, reaching new highs and soaring past a $430 billion market valuation.

Shares haven’t been below $100 since April 2025. The stock last traded below $10 in May 2023, before beginning a steady climb higher.

Retail investors are a key part of the stock’s strength.

Last month, retail poured $1.2 billion into Palantir stock, according to data from Goldman Sachs.

Here’s a closer look at Palantir’s growth over the last five years and how the company compares to megacap peers.

Government money

Government contracts have been one of Palantir’s biggest growth areas since its inception.

Last quarter, the company’s U.S. government revenue grew 53% to $426 million. Government accounted for 55% of the company’s total revenue but commercial is showing promise. Those revenues in the U.S. grew 93% last quarter, Palantir said.

Still, one of the company’s oldest customers is the U.S. Army.

Earlier this month, the company inked a contract worth up to $10 billion for data and software to streamline efficiencies and meet growing military needs. In May, the Department of Defense boosted its agreement with Palantir for AI-powered battlefield capabilities by $795 million.

“We still believe America is the leader of the free world, that the West is superior,” Karp said on an earnings call earlier this month. “We have to fight for these values; we should give American corporations, and, most importantly, our government, an unfair advantage.”

Beyond the U.S.

The U.S. has been a key driver of Palantir’s growth, especially as the company scoops up more contracts with the U.S. military.

Palantir said the U.S. currently accounts for about three-quarters of total revenues. Commercial international revenues declined 3% last quarter and analysts have raised concerns about that segment’s growth trajectory.

Over the last five years, U.S. revenues have nearly quintupled from $156 million to about $733 million. Revenues outside the U.S. have doubled from about $133 million to $271 million.

Paying a premium

Palantir’s market capitalization has rapidly ascended over the last year as investors bet on its AI tools, while its stock has soared nearly 500%.

The meteoric rise placed Palantir among the top 10 U.S. tech firms and top 20 most valuable U.S. companies. But Palantir makes a fraction of the revenue of the companies in those lists.

Last quarter, Palantir reported more than $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and its forward price-to-earnings ratio has surged past 280 times.

By comparison, Apple and Microsoft posted revenue of $94 billion and $76 billion during the period, respectively, and carry a PE ratio of nearly 30 times.

Forward PE is a valuation metric that compares a company’s future earnings to its current share price. The higher the PE, the higher the growth expectations or the more overvalued the asset. A lower price-to-earnings ratio suggests slower growth or an undervalued asset.

Most of the Magnificent Seven stocks, except for Nvidia and Tesla, have a forward PE that hovers around the 20s and 30s. Nvidia trades at more than 40 times forward earnings, while Tesla’s sits at about 198 times.

At these levels, investors are paying a jacked-up premium to own shares of one of the hottest AI stocks on Wall Street as its valuation has skyrocketed to astronomical heights.

“This is a once-in-a-generation, truly anomalous quarter, and we’re very proud,” Karp said on an earnings call following Palantir’s second-quarter results. “We’re sorry that our haters are disappointed, but there are many more quarters to be disappointed.”

CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this story.