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 federal statutes.

Neeraja Deshpande, a policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum , said she’s not thrilled about the power this settlement, and any subsequent legislation, gives to the government or the tech companies over something that should be a social contract in communities and families.

“I do think we’re outsourcing parenting and child-rearing to big tech companies,” Deshpande said. “So it’s like when we put the burden on the tech companies, when we say, ‘Oh, it’s the tech companies’ fault for building this addictive algorithm and like doing marketing to kids or whatever,’ I just, I don’t buy it. I think it’s ultimately the parents’ responsibility.”

The tide has turned against tech in many forms with the general public quite recently, as the proliferation of AI and the high-profile spread of data centers around the U.S. provide tangible scapegoats for Americans’ anxieties about unemployment and high costs of living.

Conservatives have traditionally been the party of less regulation and more speech rights but are now somewhat divided between those on the “tech right,” who seek to keep the juice of innovation flowing in America’s favor — and, on social media, keep unfettered access to online speech — and the “tech temperance” coalition, who are calling for regulation to reverse the social and cultural ills of social media and artificial intelligence.

The former group includes First Amendment advocates who see the Meta settlement as an end-run around a negotiated piece of legislation or a thorough judicial process in public view.

“This is the latest example of the newest legal strategy, which is, ‘Okay, we’re not going to go after the content of this stuff being addictive because that content is protected by Section 230, that liability protection. We’re gonna say it’s the design features that are addicting,’” said Jessica Melugin , director of the Center for Technology and Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute .

“Now, I don’t buy that, because if you switch out the content, so one example that’s given often is, what if all the content on this platform was videos of paint drying? Would people be addicted to it, even with autoplay and infinite scroll?”

The role of parents is also hotly debated. Melugin said parents have the right to not buy their kids a smartphone or impose more controls that already exist. Henson, on the other hand, noted many parents struggle to figure out what controls are available and how to turn them on or off, so further attempts to regulate should start by making the most-restrictive settings default.

“Parents shouldn’t have to take a master’s course in social media in order to learn how to set up the parental controls,” Henson said.

The next step, Henson and others say, is for Congress to move forward on legislation like the bipartisan Kids’ Online Safety Act that would enact protections on social media platforms for those under 17.

Welcome to The Movement , a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I’m Helen Huiskes, Senate reporter. Happy September!

Send me tips, comments, and suggestions: hhuiskes@thehill.com

GOP REPORT ADDS FUEL TO PUSH FOR ABORTION PILL CRACKDOWN

Anti-abortion groups see a promising future for further regulation of the abortion pill mifepristone as lawmakers and President Trump seek to limit its availability and use.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released a report last week detailing the results of an investigation the panel launched into the safety practices of mifepristone manufacturers. Republican Sens. James Lankford (Okla.), Steve Daines (Mont.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.) — along with the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — also participated in the report.

The report accuses three pharmaceutical companies — Danco , GenBioPro and Evita — of failing to adequately keep their drugs from being distributed in ways not compliant with federal regulations. The report also details how the Obama and Biden administrations rolled back the safety guidelines that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) originally attached to approval of the pill in 2000 — and connects those policy changes to a rise in medication abortions.

“Abortion drug companies are putting mothers at risk through their failure to properly oversee the prescription and distribution of their products,” Cassidy said in a statement. “We are seeing that the explosion in online sales of chemical abortion drugs has opened the door to coercion and abuse of women.”

The research, and any attention it brings to the issue, reinvigorates the conservative case for a crackdown on the mail delivery of abortion pills just as crusaders for that cause are coming into the highest levels of power in the administration.

Attorney General Todd Blanche , as he was in the confirmation process, reportedly told anti-abortion advocates that he would work to end the practice of abortion pills being mailed across state lines to skirt state-level abortion restrictions. One step he could take, advocates say, is settling a case Louisiana’s Republican attorney general brought against the FDA last year that seeks to roll back a 2023 rule allowing abortion pills to be permanently available through telehealth and at pharmacies.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments on that case, Louisiana v. FDA, next week.

Marjorie Dannenfelser , president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America , directly called on Blanche to set a new legal precedent and limit mail delivery and remote prescription of abortion pills.

“Todd Blanche has the opportunity to protect women and save the lives of 15,000 babies every month by settling with the state of Louisiana before Sept. 9,” Dannenfelser said. “He can end this fight with the red states, allow pro-life laws to finally take effect and stop the rise of criminals poisoning mothers with abortion drugs.”

The Senate report also comes as the FDA itself is set to get a new leader: Heidi Overton , a White House health policy aide who has been a staunch critic of the way abortion pills are prescribed and delivered. The FDA is in the process of its own safety study of mifepristone.

Gavin Oxley , spokesperson for Americans United for Life , said the research in the Senate report bolsters the case for the FDA to amp up its restrictions again.

“Abortion drug companies know their drugs are inherently dangerous, leading them to strip away any regulatory mechanism requiring oversight,” Oxley said. “Removing in-person dispensing requirements and reducing adverse event reporting allowed the danger to women to be pushed into the shadows where providers don’t have to face the results of their neglect.”

Sept. 4-6: The inaugural Italian version of the Conservative Political Action Conference will feature a leadership summit, gala and other events in Rome. U.S. conservative leaders, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni , and other high-profile officials from Europe and the U.S. are among the special guests. Details here.

Sept. 16: The American Conservation Coalition , Discipulus Ventures and the Foundation for American Innovation will host the New Industrial Age Forum, underwritten by Google, Lockheed Martin, Amazon and others. The goal is to “plan the restoration of America’s industrial independence,” with a focus on tech and AI. Details here .

The biggest players in the midterm fundraising game are from the tech industry, including crypto, according to an analysis of fundraising data from The New York Times. Republican-leaning donors in general are a significant chunk of the top 20 donors to the midterms so far. More here.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) launched an investigation into Flock cameras, the controversial automatic license-plate reader technology that people around the country have been protesting over surveillance concerns. More here .

The Faith and Freedom Center , a new conservative think tank, opened its doors in Kyiv, the first of its kind in that country. The organization will produce documents and make recommendations for implementing conservative policy in Ukraine, as well as engage with Western conservatives. Leaders from the U.S., including Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), former Vice President Mike Pence and Tony Perkins , president of the Family Research Council , were at the forum where the center was launched. More here.

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