Politics
Meta settlement leads Washington to pause push for youth social media bill
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown says he will not ask lawmakers to revive a sweeping youth social media bill after a court settlement imposed restrictions on Meta’s platforms. Advocates say the deal’s reach is limited and leaves privacy, enforcement and long-term questions unresolved.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown will not ask the Legislature to revive a bill restricting social media features for minors, saying a recent settlement with Meta secured measures his office had sought through legislation.
The agreement is part of a $17.1 billion nationwide settlement, with Washington receiving $237 million. The deal requires Instagram and Facebook to limit minors’ use to two hours a day for five years. If other social media companies agree to similar terms, the cap would drop to one hour and last 10 years.
Other requirements include pausing push notifications during school hours, blocking access from midnight to 6 a.m., and giving minors the option to switch off algorithmic feeds. Meta must also remove cosmetic filters and like counts for young users.
Brown’s office said the settlement goes further than the policies it had hoped to enact and that litigation and investigations offered a more promising route than another legislative effort. Bills to regulate addictive feeds for users under 18 failed in the Legislature in each of the past two years, amid objections that the proposed rules could infringe on free speech and user privacy.
The agreement does not settle concerns about age checks, which are required to apply the safeguards. Meta must adopt an age-assurance method by August 2027, remove users under 13 and make the required design changes for users under 18 by the following year. The company can use third-party verification tools or develop its own system.
Anni-Michele Jean-Pierre, senior policy director at Children’s Alliance, said age verification or estimation requires some form of data. She argued that platforms may already be able to estimate users’ ages based on their online activity, raising questions about whether additional data collection is necessary.
The legislation also proposed making nonalgorithmic feeds the default for minors. Tech industry groups argued that requirement could violate free-speech protections, while LGBTQ+ advocates warned it might make it harder for young people to find supportive communities online. The settlement instead gives minors the option to switch to a chronological feed, leaving the algorithmic feed in place by default.
That difference concerns online-safety advocates, who say young users may not choose to change their settings. The settlement also leaves open what protections will remain after its requirements expire, whether other platforms will sign similar agreements, and who will independently audit Meta’s compliance.
Danica Noble, a state House candidate and former Federal Trade Commission lawyer, said legislation remains necessary to address risks posed by companies whose business incentives prioritize shareholder returns.
Rep. Lisa Callan, the Issaquah Democrat who sponsored the Protecting Children Online Act, said she may pursue legislation again if platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube do not join similar agreements in the coming months. She said lawmakers could use the Meta settlement to assess how effective the measures are, but argued protections would need to be consistent across platforms.