Meta sues the FTC, claiming its in-house trials violate the Constitution, and asks a court to halt the agency's bid to change a $5B privacy settlement in 2020
aka rebranded Facebook — is making Federal Society inspired attacks on settled constitutional law that enables the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect consumers. Let's ostracize the Democrats who work for Meta. Daniel / @danfrompasco : Going after the agency tasked with antitrust enforcement is a sure sign we need to be breaking up Meta. Matt Stoller / @matthewstoller : What is Facebook's response to the ugly stories on how it tracks and manipulates children? To apologize? To obey the Federal Trade Commission's order to stop? Nope. Zuckerberg just asked a court to declare the FTC unconstitutional. https://storage.courtlistener.com/ ... @moreperfectus : BREAKING: Mark Zuckerburg and Meta are asking the courts to declare the Federal Trade Commission unconstitutional. Meta's suit also asks the court to stop the FTC from ordering the social media giant to stop collecting revenue on data from people under age 18. Elizabeth Warren / @senwarren : .@Meta's lawsuit against @FTC is like big tobacco trying to gut the FDA because they didn't want to be held accountable for hooking kids onto nicotine. The FTC has been around for over a century now. This agency is constitutional and using its powers to apply the law as written.
Context & Ripple Effects
The FTC’s effort to revise Meta’s 2020 privacy settlement followed allegations that Meta had breached that order and children’s-privacy rules; its proposed remedy included limits on monetizing minors’ data.
Meta had already sought judicial intervention against the proposed settlement changes in June. This suit broadens that response by challenging the FTC’s in-house adjudication process itself, not only the proposed privacy restrictions.
First-order effects
- Meta seeks to pause the FTC’s attempt to alter the 2020 settlement and to block enforcement tied to its collection and use of minors’ data while the constitutional challenge is litigated.
- The FTC must defend both its proposed remedy and the legality of the administrative process it uses to pursue it, extending a dispute that Meta had previously asked a federal court to stop.
Second-order effects
- A halt or delay would postpone the practical effect of the FTC’s proposed data-monetization restrictions, preserving Meta’s existing operating position during litigation.
- The case gives other companies facing FTC administrative proceedings a closely watched vehicle for contesting the forum, potentially shifting more enforcement fights into federal court.
Third-order effects
- If constitutional challenges to in-house trials succeed, the FTC’s ability to impose and modify conduct remedies through its own process could become more dependent on federal-court litigation.
- The dispute underscores a broader contest over whether privacy obligations can be enforced as durable, company-wide accountability systems rather than through settlements vulnerable to subsequent procedural challenges.
The trend: Big Tech companies are increasingly contesting not only individual enforcement actions but also the administrative mechanisms agencies use to police platform conduct.