Meta paid a bunch of state attorneys general to make a federal social media addiction case go away. The case went away. Now Meta faces more cases about the exact same thing.
This is how settlements work when you're large enough that the fine is a rounding error and the behavior is your entire business model. You write the check. You admit nothing. You change nothing. Then you get sued again by a different group of people who watched you write the first check and thought hey, we should get paid too.
The state AGs got their press conference and their photo op where they pretended to care about children's mental health. Meta got to avoid discovery that would have revealed exactly how much they knew about turning teenagers into dopamine-addicted engagement machines. Everyone wins except the teenagers, who are still on Instagram right now watching someone's third repost of the same f*cking dance.
The summary says the settlement doesn't absolve Meta of similar litigation or potential regulation. That's not news. That's just what settlement means when you're a tech company. It means you paid the cover charge to keep doing the thing everyone is mad about.
Retail traders saw this headline and bought Meta calls because they think legal headaches means temporary discount. They don't understand that legal headaches are a permanent feature of the business model. You can't monetize human psychology at scale without eventually having to explain yourself to lawyers. The lawyers never stop coming. The business never stops printing money. Both things remain true forever.
Meta will settle the next case too. And the one after that. They've already done the math on how much litigation costs versus how much they make from keeping thirteen-year-olds scrolling until 3 AM. The litigation is cheaper.
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