Social media debate shaken up by Meta settlement

WASHINGTON — Those who’ve fought on Capitol Hill to rein in social media platforms see last week’s settlement between Meta and state attorneys general not as a final destination, but as a roadmap to what’s possible. Privacy and First Amendment advocates are worried they’re right.

The settlement comes as the House and Senate have taken divergent paths toward regulating young people’s use of the internet, and it looks likely to inform future conversations about the balance among safety, parental control and young people’s rights in any consensus bill.

Meta agreed to a rash of new controls on Facebook and Instagram: age verification, the option for kids to see a non-personalized feed and a default two-hour time limit for teens. But those new safety standards, which come with an up-to $18 billion payout to states, will only apply to Meta and only for 10 years.

In some cases, like age verification, the settlement goes further than Congress currently seems willing. Legislation and the settlement cover similar ground on personalized algorithms and features associated with greater use, like push notifications, though the settlement is more specific. And, perhaps most controversially, the settlement does not place a “duty of care” on Meta to prevent harm to its young users.

—CQ-Roll Call

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani says AOC would be ‘viable’ candidate for higher office as 2028 presidential race looms

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be a “viable” candidate for higher office, coming as the lefty congressmember considers a run for president in 2028.

“I think that the congresswoman would be viable no matter what decision that she makes, and I think that she would make a good whatever it is that she wants to pursue,” Mamdani said at an afternoon press conference at the Brooklyn Museum.

Mamdani’s comments come after Politico reported Mamdani had previously signed onto a DSA petition that called Ocasio-Cortez “the most viable left contender for president in 2028.” The NYC-Democratic Socialists of America petition, which was also obtained by the Daily News, was mainly in support of AOC’s re-election bid for Congress but included a commitment to “deepening our partnership” with the Bronx and Queens rep.

She has left the door open to a run at the presidency, saying last month she hasn’t “ruled out the possibility” and that her focus is on the midterms. Early handicapping show her as a prominent contender for the Democratic nomination as the field begins to take shape amid a sharply divided midterm season across the nation.

—New York Daily News

Kentucky attorney general sues over abortion pill ads at gas stations, state fair

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a lawsuit Thursday against Mayday Health for advertising pills for medical abortions within Kentucky.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Logan Circuit Court, alleges Mayday Health is in violation of the Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act and asks the organization to stop advertising the pills in Kentucky and pay penalties.

According to the complaint, Coleman is asking Mayday Health to separately pay civil penalties of no more than $2,000 per violation of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act.

Mayday Health’s website says it is a reproductive health education nonprofit, which aims to “share information about abortion pills, birth control and gender-affirming care in any state.” In 2022, the General Assembly passed a law that made it illegal to mail, deliver or distribute abortion-inducing drugs in Kentucky.

—Lexington Herald-Leader

UK rebuffs Milei on Falklands, vows to keep British control

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband reaffirmed British control over the Falklands, pushing back against renewed efforts by Argentine President Javier Milei to press longstanding claims to the South Atlantic island chain.

“The U.K.’s position on the Falkland Islands is unwavering,” Miliband wrote in a statement on social media. “The Islands are British and will remain so because that is the overwhelming position of the Islanders. Their right of self-determination is paramount, grounded in international law and we will resolutely uphold it.”

Milei threatened new sanctions on oil companies working in the region in an effort to assert his country’s claim to the islands, which are known in Argentina as the Malvinas. The Argentine president made the remarks in a national address on Thursday, after President Donald Trump hinted that the U.S. wouldn’t help the U.K. in any potential conflict over the islands.

The speech represented a departure from his previous position. His leftist predecessors regularly swore to take back the islands after Britain cemented control following a brief war in 1982.

—Bloomberg News