{"id":530,"date":"2026-08-31T16:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\/?p=530"},"modified":"2026-08-31T16:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:10:06","slug":"the-first-amendment-problems-with-metas-17-billion-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\/?p=530","title":{"rendered":"The First Amendment Problems With Meta\u2019s $17 Billion Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Elected officials and commentators hailed Meta\u2019s settlement with 47 states as a massive victory that will protect teenagers from addictive social media. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that it \u201cinstitutes real change.\u201d New York Attorney General Letitia James called the deal \u201cgroundbreaking.\u201d The Wall Street Journal editorial board deemed it \u201csensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, August 28<\/a><\/p>\n

One more word describes the settlement, which requires Meta to pay the states up to $17.1 billion and make sweeping changes such as screen-time limits for teens: jawboning.<\/p>\n

The term refers to the government\u2019s use of pressure on middlemen such as social media platforms to impose limits on speech that the First Amendment prohibits the government from imposing directly on speakers. The Supreme Court has taken a strong stance against jawboning, for good reason. A close examination of the Meta settlement reveals why it should concern anyone who cares about the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

The settlement requires Meta to reduce teenagers\u2019 exposure to \u201cage inappropriate content.\u201d While some of this content\u2014such as child sexual exploitation and abuse\u2014is not protected by the First Amendment and some content can legally be withheld from children, the settlement defines the term broadly to include gambling and \u201crisky stunts,\u201d as well.<\/p>\n

The deal requires Meta to take steps to reduce teens\u2019 exposure to speech already prohibited by its community standards, on topics such as drug use and eating disorders. Such policies could reduce teenagers\u2019 access to helpful information such as educational materials. Meta is free to set its own rules on such subjects, but it becomes a First Amendment concern when the government uses the heavy leverage of pending litigation to codify those standards.<\/p>\n

Not only do these \u201cinappropriate content\u201d standards raise serious First Amendment concerns for Meta\u2019s consumers, but the mandatory content standards also intrude on Meta\u2019s First Amendment right to set its own user content policies. In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects such choices, as they \u201cgive the feed a particular expressive quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta also agreed to \u201cdisable Teen Users from seeing numbers of likes or reactions\u201d by default on its platforms. While this might sound reasonable, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last year a similar provision in a California law, concluding that it \u201cis not the least restrictive way to advance California\u2019s interest in protecting minors\u2019 mental health.\u201d If California cannot restrict a teenager\u2019s ability to view like counts, the states should not achieve this end run around the Constitution through a settlement.<\/p>\n

The settlement threatens the First Amendment rights not only of minors but also of adults. The deal requires Meta to adopt an \u201cage assurance framework\u201d to identify whether the user is a minor or an adult. Because the requirement necessarily entails collecting information about every user, it threatens all Americans\u2019 ability to use the internet anonymously, despite the agreement\u2019s attempt to impose privacy protections and minimize the collection of personal data. \u201cOnce information is shared to verify age, there\u2019s no way for a website visitor to be certain that the data they\u2019re handing over is not going to be retained and used by the website, or further shared or even sold,\u201d the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote in 2023.<\/p>\n

Read more Understanding Al-Shabaab\u2019s Recruitment Pipeline<\/a><\/p>\n

The deal\u2019s impact on anonymous speech raises constitutional concerns because the Supreme Court for decades has held that the First Amendment shields the right to speak without having one\u2019s name attached to the expression. \u201cAnonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind,\u201d the Supreme Court wrote in 1960. \u201cPersecuted groups and sects from time to time throughout history have been able to criticize oppressive practices and laws either anonymously or not at all.\u201d Since the internet\u2019s infancy, courts have applied that precedent to online speech.<\/p>\n

These are just a few of the settlement\u2019s many impacts on First Amendment-protected speech. As Mike Masnick summarizes, \u201ca legislature could not have mandated most of these features without running straight into the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defenders of the settlement would argue that the content restrictions and age assurance requirements are not direct government mandates but, rather, provisions to which Meta voluntarily agreed. But the Supreme Court has repeatedly questioned the purportedly voluntary nature of such restrictions when the government applies pressure.<\/p>\n

Most recently, in 2024, the Supreme Court vacated a decision that allowed New York\u2019s financial regulator to threaten enforcement actions against financial companies that did business with the National Rifle Association (NRA). \u201cA government official can share her views freely and criticize particular beliefs, and she can do so forcefully in the hopes of persuading others to follow her lead,\u201d Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court. \u201cIn doing so, she can rely on the merits and force of her ideas, the strength of her convictions, and her ability to inspire others. What she cannot do, however, is use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit against Meta raises similar concerns about jawboning, despite the settlement\u2019s statement that all parties \u201cfreely and voluntarily entered into this Consent Judgment without any degree of duress or compulsion.\u201d Although the NRA case involved the executive branch\u2019s threat of enforcement actions and Meta was facing litigation, both ultimately involve state action.<\/p>\n

Meta had warned that the litigation could lead to liability of up to $1.4 trillion. Even if Meta has \u201cvoluntarily\u201d entered into the settlement, it is difficult to argue that the threat of losing an existential lawsuit did not factor into its decision. And even though Meta is free to enter into this agreement, it should not be able to waive the First Amendment interests of millions of speakers and users. The settlement is particularly concerning for the broader internet because Meta would pay more if TikTok and YouTube adopt similar restrictions.<\/p>\n

This is not to minimize the very real concerns about teenage social media use that the states raise. But the government should address those concerns within the bounds of the First Amendment, and should not jawbone its way around the challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more The Week That Was<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meta’s settlement includes some social media speech restrictions that states can’t directly impose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThe First Amendment Problems With Meta\u2019s $17 Billion Deal - National Consumer Reports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\/?p=530\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The First Amendment Problems With Meta\u2019s $17 Billion Deal - National Consumer Reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meta's settlement includes some social media speech restrictions that states can't directly impose.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\/?p=530\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Consumer Reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-31T16:10:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/?p=530#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/?p=530\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ef6e8820a5e2e961e9b8cda481436ac0\"},\"headline\":\"The First Amendment Problems With Meta\u2019s $17 Billion Deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-31T16:10:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/?p=530\"},\"wordCount\":1046,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/?p=530#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/2ba4361b326342c0bbdade8489d00458.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/?p=530#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/?p=530\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationalconsumerreportss.com\\\/?p=530\",\"name\":\"The First Amendment Problems With Meta\u2019s $17 Billion Deal - 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