Meta's settlement with states over child safety claims—to the tune of up to $17.1 billion—has come as a disappointment to people who would have liked to see the social media giant battle this one out. Meta has First Amendment rights. Minors have First Amendment rights. If anyone is well-positioned to push back against government overreach on this front, it's the world's largest social media company.
Instead, Meta caved. It agreed not just to pay off the 47 states suing it but also to make myriad changes to the way it treats minors using the platform. It's also agreed to make more changes and pay more money if other big social platforms will do the same. "The base line of Meta's monetary settlement is $12 billion," notes New York Times reporter Mike Isaac, but it will throw in an extra $5 billion if TikTok and YouTube pay $5 billion too.
