This bill mandates that large digital advertising platforms annually report to the FTC on the volume and value of public service advertisements they provide, particularly those promoting mental health resources.
Dan Sullivan
Senator
AK
The ADS for Mental Health Services Act requires major digital advertising platforms to annually report to the FTC on the public service advertisements (PSAs) they provide, specifically those promoting mental and physical health resources. These reports must detail the volume and estimated value of the free ads, particularly those focused on local or free health services. The FTC will then compile and publicly share a summary of this data with Congress each year.
Big Tech Must Report on Free Mental Health Ads: New Law Demands Transparency on PSAs
The new Advancing Digital Support for Mental Health Services Act, or the ADS Act, is straightforward: it forces the biggest digital ad platforms—think social media giants and search engines with over 100 million monthly users—to open their books on public service announcements (PSAs). Essentially, if you’re a massive online platform, you have to tell the government how much free ad space you’re donating to public health causes, especially mental health.
The Transparency Mandate: Following the Free Ads
This bill is all about making sure the largest online players are actually following through on their claims of supporting public health. Under Section 2, any platform selling ad space that hits that 100-million-user mark has to file an annual report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This report must detail several key metrics from the previous year. They need to state the total number of PSAs they ran for free and calculate the estimated dollar value of that donated space. For the average person, this means we get to see, in hard numbers, how much Big Tech is actually contributing to public awareness campaigns, rather than just taking their word for it.
Crucially, the bill focuses specifically on mental health. Platforms must count how many of those free ads promoted local or regional mental, behavioral, or physical health resources, and how many promoted resources that are completely free to the public. For instance, if a platform runs a free campaign for a local crisis hotline or a state-run substance abuse program, they have to specifically track that contribution. The FTC then takes all this data, summarizes it, and makes it public, giving Congress and the public a clear picture of who is doing what.
What Counts as a PSA? The Fine Print
To keep things honest, the ADS Act provides a strict definition of a Public Service Advertisement (PSA). It has to be displayed for free—no money or trade allowed—and it must promote mental, behavioral, or physical health resources. This includes ads raising awareness about community events that fight social isolation or promoting resources that help reduce things like suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders. The ad also has to be relevant to the audience it’s targeting. This level of detail is important because it prevents platforms from simply counting any vaguely health-related ad as a PSA to meet their reporting quotas.
For regular folks, this means that the ads you see online for critical services—like where to get free counseling or how to spot the signs of social isolation—are now under a reporting microscope. The hope is that by forcing platforms to measure and report these PSAs, they will be incentivized to run more of them, increasing the visibility of resources that often get buried under commercial content. While the bill is clear that existing privacy and data security laws still apply, the platforms now bear the administrative burden of tracking and valuing this donated ad space, which could be a compliance headache for their legal teams. Ultimately, this bill is a win for transparency and public health awareness, leveraging the massive reach of digital platforms to connect people with needed health resources.