Meta's AG settlement gives it a moat to write child safety rules for other social media platforms, with little evidence its new safety features will help kids

including adults — while handing the states a pipeline to that data for whatever else they decide it's useful for.”Mike Masnick /@masnick.com:In case you wanted about 3,700 words on the problems with today's “settlement” that gives Meta way more power over how the internet works than it should have. [embedded post]

Techdirt 2026-08-27 Mike Masnick

Context & Ripple Effects

State AG litigation in 2023 put age-verification methods at the center of Meta’s child-safety obligations, while privacy groups warned that the technology was untested and created security risks. The settlement turns that dispute into specific product commitments, including daily teen limits and feed controls, as described in the agreement’s teen-feature requirements.

The agreement also places Meta’s age-assurance approach alongside signals from Apple- and Google-operated operating systems and app stores, giving its implementation relevance beyond Facebook and Instagram. Critics quoted in the discussion argue that this model expands data collection and weakens anonymity; those are objections, not established outcomes.

First-order effects

Meta must deploy its new U.S. teen safeguards and an age-verification framework, while Apple and Google become sources of the “reliable age signals” specified in the settlement’s age-assurance design.
YouTube and TikTok face pressure to adopt comparable measures because roughly $5.3 billion of the agreement is tied to their implementation, according to the settlement coverage.

Second-order effects

Meta can use compliance with an AG-negotiated package to advocate for common child-safety rules, raising the cost for rival platforms whose product designs do not fit those controls.
Apple and Google gain added leverage over social platforms if app-store and OS-level age signals become an expected input for age assurance.

Third-order effects

If AG settlements become the vehicle for cross-platform safety requirements, platform policy may be shaped through negotiated compliance terms rather than legislation that applies uniformly across services.
Age assurance risks becoming a gatekeeper layer shared among dominant platforms and mobile operating systems, intensifying the trade-off between child-access controls and anonymous participation identified by privacy critics.

The trend: Child-safety enforcement is moving toward interoperable age and access controls, with large platforms seeking to turn settlement commitments into industry baselines.

Discussion

@marcimccue Marci McCue on bluesky
“Age assurance is a privacy nightmare. Enshrining it as the industry standard means the end of meaningful online anonymity, and it “forces” Meta to collect more data about all of us — including adults — while handing the states a pipeline to that data for whatever else they deci…
@masnick.com Mike Masnick on bluesky
In case you wanted about 3,700 words on the problems with today's “settlement” that gives Meta way more power over how the internet works than it should have. [embedded post]
@dangillmor@mastodon.social Dan Gillmor on mastodon
Governments want nothing more than to control what people say and read and hear online, and corporate monopolists are their natural allies. So the “kid safety settlement” by Facebook and states is going to be disastrous for everyone who cares about free speech. https://www.techd…
r/technology r on reddit
Meta Just Paid Nearly $17 Billion To Make Sure It Gets To Write The Kid Safety Rules For Every Other Social Media Platform
@damonberes.com Damon Beres on bluesky
Also great from @masnick.com: “We just spent three years teaching the entire industry that if you do research on child safety, you'll have it held against you. Do we really think that all of this is going to actually enable anyone to figure out what works to help actual kids?”
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Meta is going full bore with pushing other companies to add the same restrictions it will add to its apps as a part of settlement: Meta plans to run this copy as a full page print advertisement in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the New York Times tomorrow morning
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
I think this settlement is weak, but one positive is that libertarians are upset that Meta conceded their First Amendment claims are irrelevant.
@jonhaidt Jonathan Haidt on x
Meta's $16.7B settlement is the largest accountability moment in social media history for child safety, and the 47 AGs who drove it deserve tremendous credit. Restricted notifications and time limits are good, and it is historic that the AGs have gotten design changes. But the …
@headinthebox Erik Meijer on x
Because the settlement is spread out over 10 years, Meta will only pay roughly $1.17 billion per year for the unconditional portion. In contrast, Reality Labs burns through that exact same amount of cash every 24 days. Thank you for the perspective @headinthebox.
@gerritd Gerrit De Vynck on x
lot of people dismissing the $18B Meta payout as a drop in the bucket. Sure. But the platform changes are significant. Meta has been fighting calls for exactly this kind of thing for a decade. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@balancecrafting @balancecrafting on x
A few points re Meta settlement 1) Settlement expires after 10 years. Night access mode & daily limits for teens last 5 years Lawmakers still need to act to make any of this permanent 2) Meta is not released from criminal liability, only civil 3) Florida is going to trial
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
The fundamental flaw here is this settlement doesn't touch advertising. You can put all the limits you want in a legal document, but if Meta makes money from kids using their product, Meta is going to find ways of getting kids to use their product.
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
lol. Also trying to make it as if they weren't the worst actor that was the focus of the complaints and the one fighting legislation to regulate them. Meta PR 101 - always be on offense.
@thierrybreton Thierry Breton on x
$17 billion💰 That's what it took for US states to force Meta to protect children online. Ironically, 9 measures out of 12 are covered by the DSA, our 🇪🇺 law since 2023. US courts are going faster than the EU Commission. We must ENFORCE DSA NOW! https://www.nytimes.com/...
@thierrybreton Thierry Breton on x
Meta to pay a mega $17 billion settlement to 47 US States — to enforce measures already covered by the 🇪🇺 DSA. Which got me a US visa ban, as the DSA “mastermind.
@enbrown Elizabeth Nolan Brown on x
Yeah, all I can say about the Meta settlement is ...ugh. This is only going to make AGs & other anti-SM zealots even more insufferable, b/c they'll say it proves they were right. And it will encourage more lawsuits that try to circumvent the 1st Amendment & Section 230 by claim…
@rmac18 Ryan Mac on x
these numbers put $17.1 billion into perspective https://www.nytimes.com/...
@nicoperrino Nico Perrino on x
This settlement — and the litigation that led to it — was effectively a backdoor effort by the government to mandate age verification. It succeeded. Now Meta is pressuring TikTok and YouTube to voluntarily adopt the same requirements and restrictions found in its settlement. I…
@hshaban Hamza Shaban on x
Don Draper: Why I'm Quitting Tobacco
@m_ccuri Maria Curi on x
The bottom line: It's taken whistleblowers, combative hearings, years of debate on Capitol Hill, and many lawsuits for Meta to inch toward accepting some form of federal regulation. As scrutiny heats up via litigation, the company is now attempting to position itself as being on
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
This is what the government defending its residents looks like Make no mistake: NONE of this self-restraint is voluntary. It's after Meta lost a lawsuit to California (class action by 29 states) about platform child safety. If they don't do, they'll be regulated stricter
@adamkovac Adam Kovacevich on x
I'm sure the Jonathan Haidt and Facebook Derangement Syndromd crowds will cheer this - and we have screen & social media limits on our own teen - but I really worry about where this is going. These jury trials over social media addiction are tough. I don't think an addiction
@oablanchard Olivier Blanchard on x
The alternative was $1.4T if @Meta lost in court. Meta was smart to blink. For reference, Meta's revenue in Q2 2026 was $60.8B, so while these state attorneys general pat themselves on the back, this $17.1B settlement is little more than a slap on the wrist.
@rmac18 Ryan Mac on x
Interesting to see Meta settle for up to $17.1 billion (a little more than 1 percent of its market cap), which it mostly already recovered in trading today https://www.nytimes.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
whoa. there is almost $500 million buried in the 130 page Meta settlement to pay off states on Cambridge Analytica. Note, District of Columbia not listed where Zuckerberg personally has a suit, along with company, related to the ongoing legal reckoning from the cover-up. /1
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
Well yeah, can't give $16B away all at once like you're blowing it on the metaverse or anything.
@charlottealter Charlotte Alter on x
Looks like using the Big Tobacco playbook against Big Tech is absolutely working. Meta once claimed *oh no, we're only a teeny weeny omniscient tech corporation with unlimited data about our users, how could we possibly know who's a child on our platform? * Now they've been for…
@borrowed_ideas @borrowed_ideas on x
@TSOH_Investing very happy to see Meta putting this in the deal because that's exactly what I was getting at why Meta cannot solve this alone.
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
$META is up 3% (Nasdaq is down 0.1%) on the news of the national tech addiction settlement which underscores investors value clarity, even if the news is bad. The company will pay $18B over the next 10 years. Last week, I had estimated the number would be below $25B, so these p…
@andrewyang Andrew Yang on x
Meta is getting off easy on this one. What price would you put on your kid's mental health?
@geiger_capital @geiger_capital on x
Right on schedule... Zuckerberg is one of our modern “Titans”. He's given us instagram reels and funded far-left groups facilitating mass immigration. A net negative to American society.
@charlottealter Charlotte Alter on x
Impossible to describe how HUGE this is. State AGs just pulled off what the federal government could never https://x.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
that said, years after everyone forgot about what was then considered a landmark FTC settlement in 2019, FB started cutting its risk and privacy monitoring teams when AI came around as an existential threat.... https://www.nytimes.com/...
@jimcramer Jim Cramer on x
It is important to note that when Meta doesn't react to something they will owe $1.3 Billion a year—drop in the bucket—instead of $100 billion a year—and it doesn't matter, that stock is considered odious
@jonathanturley Jonathan Turley on x
The Meta settlement is certainly seismic and will lead to new protections for children. In the end, the $16 billion is a bit like monopoly money — perhaps literally so for critics. Meta made over $200 billion in profits and, more importantly, this can be written off a cost of
@jimcramer Jim Cramer on x
Meta goes negative: this is one hated stock.. i mean like despised. The big existential loss is off the table; the plaintiffs bar likely to fold.. This was a huge win. Shocked it doesn't matter
@zephyrteachout Zephyr Teachout on x
Huge first step. Now we need to ban addictive feeds for kids altogether. This is a sign of big tech weakness, but they will want it all to go away. We need to push on the gas instead.
@_zeets Zito on x
I know 16 billion is nothing to them but it's wild when that's the settlement. Meta should have been ended a long time ago, instead of allowing them to keep paying affordable fines for wrecking the world and people's minds.
@douglaslfarrar Douglas Farrar on x
The States got $17.1 billion from Meta, while the Trump-Vance DOJ got a paltry $400 million and ended fed oversight of TikTok for a similarly egregious set of violations of kids' privacy. The Trump Administration is fine letting social media run wild on your children.
@jerrycap @jerrycap on x
Looks like $META wasn't down on the lawsuit news. Its was only down because it's the worst stock ever.
@ddayen David Dayen on x
Meta is in the midst of a trial for addicting children to its websites. It could cost them $200 billion (or even $1.4 *trillion* by some accounts). It could be the end of social media as we know it, and Ryan Cooper feels fine: https://prospect.org/...
@madisonmills22 Madison Mills on x
Teens will automatically get two hour time limits, a chronological feed (!) and will be barred from using the app overnight. A lot of these features are things people of all ages, who are Bricking their phones or deleting then redownloading IG, clearly want as well. What are
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
meta gets off easy
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
wow. $16 BILLION means Meta/Facebook/Instagram is now approaching $25 BILLION they've on settlements related to consumer protection abuses... this one impacting an entire generation of children. Bookmarking the thread of the allegations they opted not to see to the end.
@adrianweckler Adrian Weckler on x
Meta today fined $ 16.7bn by US courts for the same stuff EU regulates them for. Where's the outrage? Vance? Tech bros? Anyone? https://www.reuters.com/...
@andymstone Andy Stone on x
https://about.fb.com/...
@garyblack00 Gary Black on x
$META +4% pre-mkt to $594 on reports that it has reached a $17B settlement over 10 years with the state attorneys general, thereby removing the chance of an existential adverse verdict that could have approached $1.4 trillion, equal to META's market cap. While we had always
@willguyatt Will Guyatt on x
Meta's settlement is the latest piece of 9D chess. It denies wrong doing and potentially dodges a costly bullet. https://www.bbc.com/...
@stocksavvyshay Shay Boloor on x
$META agreeing to pay ~$16.7B to settle child safety and privacy claims sounds enormous until you put it against the earnings machine. Meta is expected to generate ~$340M in profit per day by 2028 which means the entire settlement equals about 49 days of profit.
@rihardjarc Rihard Jarc on x
$META settled with the states for a maximum of $16.68B. Done. I still can't believe some people seriously believed the trillion-dollar numbers.
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Operation: Pay billions so as not to have to pay trillions seemingly a success. Also, right before you-know-who was set to testify...
Dex Hunter-Torricke Dex Hunter-Torricke on linkedin
My comment for media: Meta just settled the lawsuit brought against it by dozens of US state attorneys general, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion over claims that its products harmed children. …
Kerry Edelstein Kerry Edelstein on linkedin
ICYMI, we should all have eyes on this ruling. Some considerations that immediately come to mind: — 1. How will other social media platforms pre-emptively respond? …
David Rendelstein David Rendelstein on linkedin
This is not surprising and it feels precedential. We are likely to see these types of settlements become commonplace with the mega tech AI companies. …
@parismarx.com Paris Marx on bluesky
hard not to think of the social media restrictions china put on kids and how the west is slowly doing the same, just in the most convoluted way possible [embedded post]
@mattmcneilshow Matt McNeil Show on bluesky
The fact that they agreed to this much of a payout tells you how guilty they were of poisoning kids' minds. www.cnbc.com/2026/08/26/m...
@sltrib.com @sltrib.com on bluesky
CNBC does a good job of breaking it down in this article but the short version is that “participating states” are splitting $12.2 billion, and Meta will only pay the remaining ~$3B if Google also agrees to implement the same changes.
@dems.ag @dems.ag on bluesky
Dem AGs just secured a HUGE public health win for kids and young people across the country. — This is just the beginning - Dem AGs will continue to protect youth mental health and take on those accused of endangering them. — www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/t...
@liccardo.house.gov Rep. Sam Liccardo on bluesky
This settlement has done what Congress has failed to do: impose social media safeguards for children and teens. Now Congress must extend those protections across the industry by passing the Kids Online Safety Act. — www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/t...
@prospect.org @prospect.org on bluesky
Meta is back in court. This time, the plaintiffs are 28 states, led by California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, which allege that the company deliberately designed their products to get young people addicted, and harmed their mental health as a result. buff.ly/m4h7lc8
r/privacy r on reddit
BBC: “It shouldn't have taken a lawsuit for Meta to implement safety measures, whistleblower says”
r/technology r on reddit
BBC: “It shouldn't have taken a lawsuit for Meta to implement safety measures, whistleblower says”
r/news r on reddit
Meta agrees to pay $18 billion to settle US lawsuits over children's social media addiction
@socialmedialab.ca @socialmedialab.ca on bluesky
“The limitations that are in the (Meta) agreement are the equivalent of saying: ‘Well you can smoke as many cigarettes as you can in two hours a day,’” said whistleblower and ex-Facebook employee Arturo Béjar. “It doesn't make the cigarettes any safer.” www.theguardian.com/techn…
@paattorneygen @paattorneygen on x
Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that Pennsylvania, as part of a multistate coalition, has reached a settlement with Meta that assures the social media company will implement sweeping changes to existing age assurance framework, limit children's time on their platforms, and…
@alexsjacquez Alex Jacquez on x
Extending these to >18 would genuinely save the Republic
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
The Meta settlement is about social media. But the ripples will go beyond Snap, TikTok, YouTube, etc. This will become a new legal template for AI chatbots.
@rmac18 Ryan Mac on x
six days later
@oknox Olivier Knox on x
Meta putting the bravest face on its “we know we said we had done everything possible to protect teens but now we have magically unlocked a whole bunch of other things we can do” settlement.
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
notably, snap not mentioned, so you really can see who meta sees as its peers/competitors
@hshaban Hamza Shaban on x
Here's how Meta's settlement deal is supposed to incentivize TikTok and YouTube to also change their rules to better protect children:
@michaelscherer Michael Scherer on x
The ball is now in YouTube and TikTok's court. Will they follow?
@michaelscherer Michael Scherer on x
After running a massive ad campaign to assure parents that “teen accounts” will protect their kids, Meta announces, under threat of massive jury verdict, that there is a lot more they can do to protect their kids.
@zerohedge @zerohedge on x
*META TO ACCRUE ABOUT $10B LEGAL EXPENSE IN 3Q FOR SETTLEMENT
@nicholasabrown_ Nicholas Brown on x
META: “.. we urge TikTok and YouTube to join us and state attorneys general in adopting this new standard, to ensure teens use social media in a healthy and responsible way.” (h/t @carlquintanilla) $META https://about.fb.com/...
@benjamingoggin Ben Goggin on x
The scale of Meta's settlement with states is bigger than just the case in California. Meta says it came to agreements with 52 AGs for up to $18 billion, meaning other cases will be killed by this, and states outside the suit have hopped on. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@agjamesuthmeier @agjamesuthmeier on x
We rejected Meta's weak payoff attempt. Meta knows about the damage they caused, and we will hold them accountable in Florida.
@newyorkstateag Ny Ag on x
For years, our kids have suffered from anxiety and depression while @Meta reaped immense profits by addicting them to social media. Now, my office and a bipartisan coalition secured up to $17.1 billion from @Meta along with groundbreaking reforms to help protect our kids online.
@ezcontra @ezcontra on x
why is meta always at the center of these cases? If the concern is social media's effect on kids, its weird that google/youtube and tiktok don't get the same level of scrutiny. And the role of parents never seems to come up at all
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
the Meta settlement money figure is a rounding error compared to Meta's annual capex on AI — especially when it's amortized over the next *ten years* but these required product changes could actually significant if they are enforced, not easily bypassed by kids
@p_remarks @p_remarks on x
If this was high school tiktok and YouTube would be beating up meta behind the bleachers at 4pm today
@bwaltens Brandon Waltens on x
BREAKING: @KenPaxtonTX has secured a settlement worth more than $1 BILLION from Meta over protections for children. Meta will be required to impose stricter age verification, a two-hour daily limit for teens, school-hour notification restrictions, and a nighttime access mode.
@stocksavvyshay Shay Boloor on x
$META is tying another $5.3B of its settlement to $GOOGL YouTube and TikTok adopting similar teen safety rules. If they join Meta would cut its default teen time limit from 2 hours to 1 hour a day effectively turning the settlement into an industry-wide push.
@kenpaxtontx Attorney General Ken Paxton on x
🚨BREAKING NEWS: I just secured over $1 billion for Texas from Meta in a historic settlement to protect kids online.
@francisbrennan Francis Brennan on x
We just reached a bipartisan agreement with 52 attorneys general on new teen safety standards: default time limits, night blocks, muted notifications during school hours, and stronger parental controls. More here: https://about.fb.com/...
@metanewsroom @metanewsroom on x
Today marks an historic agreement between Meta and 52 Attorneys General that provides sweeping new protections empowering parents and setting the standard for the industry. https://about.fb.com/...
@agalanwilson Alan Wilson on x
As a dad to two teenagers who've grown up in the digital age, protecting children from Big Tech is personal to me. This settlement with Meta doesn't undo the damage that has been caused, but it's a strong step in preventing the harms caused by social media to future generations
@cecianasta Cecilia D'Anastasio on x
As part of its $17 billion multistate settlement, Meta is letting teens opt out of the algorithmic feed...... https://about.fb.com/...
@edludlow Ed Ludlow on x
Meta has agreed to some major operational changes for teen users as part of its $16.7B settlement with states: • 2-hour daily cap across Facebook + Instagram • Midnight-6am lockout; notifications off 10pm-7am • School hours: most notifications off 8am-3pm • Mandatory breaks a…
@newjerseyoag Attorney General Jennifer Davenport on x
Today we are announcing a landmark victory for parents and young people everywhere. We took on Meta and, subject to court approval, they've agreed to our demands. This is the era of holding Big Tech accountable.
@agchanaway @agchanaway on x
BREAKING: Missouri stood with states across the country demanding accountability from Big Tech for the addictive and harmful features targeting our kids. Now, Meta is rolling out historic safety reforms on Facebook and Instagram nationwide. Every minor should be safe the moment
@scattygenoffice @scattygenoffice on x
Attorney General Alan Wilson announces largest Big Tech settlement in history.
@usrepkathycastor U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor on bluesky
I'm glad to see Big Tech be held accountable for their predatory designs and careless approach to keeping kids safe online. 👏🏼 This is a step in the right direction, but it's never been more important for Congress to step up and pass a design code law that establishes guardrails…
r/news r on reddit
Meta reaches $18 billion settlement over teen social media addiction
@caseynewton Casey Newton on bluesky
Wrote about Meta's ludicrous effort to position itself as a leader in child safety after today's $17 billion settlement with state AGs www.platformer.news/meta-child- s... [image]
@ralph_grabowski Ralph Grabowski on x
Meta profit (2025): $60.4 billion a year Meta fine for failing to safeguard children (over ten years, minus Youtube penalty): $1.4 billion a year It's like someone making $60,000 a year paying a $1,400 fine.
NewsMax.com NewsMax.com on x
Meta Calls on TikTok, YouTube to Join New Teen Safety Standards
Kate O'Loughlin Kate O'Loughlin on linkedin
$17 BILLION in fines and the stock price goes up 🤯 but at least the settlement... 1) Requires META to improve youth experiences …
John Battelle John Battelle on linkedin
Meta “capitulated” and settled with 47 states on child endangerment, according to the NYT. But what I can't quite determine from coverage …
@pamspaulding Pam Spaulding on bluesky
1/2 — 🚨 $16.7B. A pittance. States should have taken this to a verdict. The precedent would have been a win *for humanity*. — Meta — FB & IG — its products are addictive & detrimental to mental health. Zuck & Co. knew. — 👉Each party waived “all rights to appeal this Fin…
@keithellison @keithellison on bluesky
Big Tech is not above the law and our kids are not products. — Today, I and a bipartisan coalition of Attorneys General secured a landmark settlement with Meta worth up to $17.1 billion, along with sweeping new protections for kids and teens on Instagram and Facebook.
@lorak Lora Kolodny on bluesky
Meta's 2025 net income was $60.46 billion. The tentative settlement agreement amount is ~27% of that & might sting depending how quickly the company must pay. www.cnbc.com/2026/08/26/m... Big q's remains on the agreed on design changes - will they actually be helpful to child (o…
@ddayen David Dayen on bluesky
Meta is in the midst of a trial for addicting children to its websites. It could cost them $200 billion (or even $1.4 *trillion* by some accounts). It could be the end of social media as we know it, and @ryanlcooper.com feels fine: “Social media... is a gravely toxic institutio…
@kimberlyeatkins Kimberly Atkins Stohr on bluesky
Meta's current market cap is $1.45 TRILLION. $12.6 billion is a drop in the bucket. A rounding error. Outrageous. — www.cnbc.com/2026/08/26/m...
r/news r on reddit
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims
r/classactions r on reddit
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims
r/DeepStateCentrism r on reddit
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims: The social media giant settled with 47 states …
r/California r on reddit
Meta settles social media addiction case with California, other states for $16.7 billion
r/LosAngeles r on reddit
Meta settles social media addiction case with California, other states for $16.7 billion; CA could receive $1.5-$2.1 billion
r/neoliberal r on reddit
Meta settles social media addiction case with California, other states for $16.7 billion
r/StockMarket r on reddit
Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
r/UpliftingNews r on reddit
Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
r/UXDesign r on reddit
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims
r/privacy r on reddit
Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
r/news r on reddit
Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
r/technology r on reddit
Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
r/worldnews r on reddit
Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
after the initial shock of the settlement headlines yesterday, it took me a bit to see just how much Meta is putting the screws to its competitors https://www.nytimes.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
and look, if you believe — as many do — that social media needs reining in, this type of mutually assured destruction could ultimately be net beneficial to young people if meta succeeds sort of a “the worst person you know just made a great point” thing for meta antagonists
r/technology r on reddit
Key witness in Meta trial says terms of settlement insufficient to halt apps' harms to teenagers
@evangreer Evan Greer on bluesky
I'm someone who wants to see Meta regulated out of existence. — And the Meta settlement is bad. Very bad. — www.techdirt.com/2026/08/26/ m...
@laurenfeiner Lauren Feiner on bluesky
The most striking part of Meta's kids safety settlement was that it name-checked its top rivals. Snap, TikTok, and YouTube aren't technically constrained by this agreement, but Meta seems to be making a power move to pressure them into adopting similar restrictions. www.theverge…
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
State AGs across the country are celebrating forcing Meta (and likely all other platforms soon) to adopt “robust ID verification measures” and ppl on the left who claim to be anti surveillance are celebrating
@evangreer Evan Greer on bluesky
By my read the Meta settlement essentially REQUIRES Meta to continue and expand its corporate surveillance and data harvesting. — It requires meta to “invest” more in its “behavioral” age assurance system, ie monitoring everything you do on the platform and trying to figure out…
@scottbooher.com Scott Booher on bluesky
Can always depend on @masnick.com to get to the real story behind these tech policy announcements - and this one is sobering. $17B to write the rules for the industry (and lock out future startups) is a solid ROI.
@unchi.org Tim Pierce on bluesky
Another way to frame this story, thanks to @masnick.com: www.techdirt.com/2026/08/26/ m... [embedded post]
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
didnt realize yesterday but the company is also running this as an ad you'll likely see at the top of your IG and FB feeds (if you're an american user, that is)
@alexshultz Alex Shultz on bluesky
Re: news of a settlement, Meta has wasted no time yanking TikTok + YouTube into the mud. Meta says settlement's “success depends on all other social media platforms following Meta's lead.” — “Supporting teens” is a funny way of spinning “we are terrified 10s of millions of use…
@laurengoode Lauren Goode on bluesky
NEW, from me and @peard33.bsky.social: Child safety groups and former Meta employees welcome the proposed changes to how Instagram and Facebook will work for teens—but they also think states should have demand more, and kids remain vulnerable on social apps www.wired.com/story/th…
@paul__walsh Paul Walsh on x
This is BS. Parents can do all of these things right now on their kids' phones. I've designed custom Android firmware and an API service for iOS to solve these issues, before they were adopted across iOS and Android devices. There's no need for any parent to download a third
@jbpritzker JB Pritzker on x
Social media companies have been preying on our kids for far too long. Yesterday's settlement with Meta was a necessary step towards accountability. In Illinois, I signed the Children's Online Safety Act, enforcing age verification and protecting kids from addictive algorithms.
@senrubengallego Senator Ruben Gallego on x
Meta just agreed to pay up to $17 billion to settle a teen social media addiction case brought by states across the country. Social media companies are designing algorithms to keep our kids hooked. The bill I introduced will help put parents back in control.
@senatorcantwell Sen. Maria Cantwell on x
Meta has known for years that its products have addictive design features that harm kids. Today's settlement finally holds the company accountable for its actions by requiring Meta to adopt major changes to make Facebook and Instagram safer for kids online. Under the $17 billion
@nathan_covey Nathan Covey on x
I was given an iPhone with zero restrictions when I was 13 years old. I downloaded Instagram, Snapchat, and other socials shortly thereafter, which had a terrible net effect on my life in the years that followed. In no way do I blame my parents for this. I was raised in an
@lpdonovan Liam Donovan on x
As the father of four school-aged kids I spend an absurd amount of time and bandwidth wrestling with technology in order to keep them safe and healthy. The measures Meta has committed to here are objectively significant and positive for parents and their families.
@eyakoby Eyal Yakoby on x
Meta is taking real steps to protect kids and give parents more control. The rest of Big Tech should follow their lead and make this the industry standard. And Congress should finally pass the App Store Accountability Act.
@wolven.blacksky.app @wolven.blacksky.app on bluesky
Actually let me rephrase: Getting to pay ~1% of their yearly revenue *And Then getting To Use The Invasive Data They've Collected From The Predatory Architectures They've Implemented* to set the terms and paradigm for every other social media company that follows after them is Pr…
@abeba.blacksky.app Dr Abeba Birhane on bluesky
“for all the people “celebrating” this as a win “against” Meta, you've been fooled. Meta just cut a deal to put itself in charge of how social media works going forward. this is Meta taking a “please regulate me Daddy” approach to the government, & getting exactly what it really…
The Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex The Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on x
Prince Harry and Meghan say Meta's settlement fails to include an apology or mention the billions it will pay out because of claims brought by the AGs
@samidh @samidh on bluesky
As usual, @masnick.com is spot on here: www.techdirt.com/2026/08/26/ m... Nothing says “regulatory capture” more than making a payment to the government contingent upon them enforcing certain rules of your choice on your competitors.

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