The Movement: Meta settlement gets praise, pushback from the right

Family- and culture-focused groups on the right praised last week’s court settlement that requires Meta to institute safety and addiction guardrails for teenagers on its platforms.

But free speech and innovation advocates are less than thrilled, as the settlement represents the biggest victory yet for a novel legal strategy that avoids First Amendment concerns.

The settlement lands amid a broader tech backlash, particularly to artificial intelligence and the data centers required for its proliferation, and as the debate heats up among conservatives over how to balance the GOP’s traditional focus on anti-regulation and free speech, protections for young people, and parental rights.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, last week agreed to a $17 billion settlement with 47 attorneys general that had brought claims against the company alleging it designed its products with addictive algorithms intentionally to hook children and teenagers, and collected data on children without parental consent. The money will be paid out to the states in different amounts over the next decade.

But the result is hardly about the money — Meta also agreed to adopt changes to Facebook and Instagram for teenagers to minimize the worst effects of social media, including allowing users to disable endless scrolling, imposing two-hour time limits that only a parent can disable, silencing notifications during school hours and hiding the count of “likes.” 

Pro-family conservatives have been clamoring for such controls for years. Michael Toscano, director of the Family First Technology Institute at the Institute for Family Studies, said in a statement that he still wants more layers of age verification for social media and app stores, but that the guardrails in the settlement are a positive step. 

“Meta deserves no kudos for this action, but we should not forget that many other social media platforms are harming children, as well,” said Toscano. “This is a huge win for America’s children and families, and the mass movement that helped produce this result deserves our thanks.” 

Melissa Henson, media and culture policy expert at Concerned Women for America, said she was surprised by the settlement, since Meta had gone all the way in court in previous trials. The guardrails in the settlement are along the same lines as what advocates have been pressing for, Henson said.

“I think it indicates that there has been an ability, just not a willingness, to implement these changes all along,” Henson said. “But I also acknowledge that Meta acting alone in isolation, as big as Facebook is and as big as Instagram is, Meta acting alone is not going to change the social media ecosystem.”

Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, praised the settlement on social platform X and urged other social media companies to take the same steps. 

“There is plenty to like in this settlement,” Chapman said. “If you are a parent of teenagers you understand the addictive nature of social media apps targeted at our kids. Meta, through their action, is now acknowledging that as well.”

But there are detractors, including those who would prefer tech safety be enforced by parents, not the government, and pro-business types who worry about setting a precedent for over-regulation if the settlement guidelines turn into........

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