No Mercy / No Malice: Little Tobacco Moment

The $17.1 billion settlement that 47 states and the District of Columbia reached with Meta last week is being called the company’s “big tobacco moment.” Scott Galloway disagrees. He calls it a “little tobacco moment” — a penalty that makes Meta’s shareholders richer, its competitors weaker, and its business model entirely intact. The markets agreed: Meta’s shares rose 1% on the news, meaning the settlement’s removal of legal uncertainty paid for itself.

What the settlement actually does

The settlement requires Meta to make changes to its products, but as Galloway notes, Meta had already begun introducing many of those changes last year. The company simply agreed to follow its own road map. Teens will be limited to two hours of scrolling per day unless parents override the setting, usage will be barred between midnight and 6 AM, and notifications will be turned off during school hours. Galloway’s analogy is blunt: “That’s telling your kids they can only light up after class and not between midnight and 6 AM.” Teens can also disable autoplay, switch from the algorithmic feed to a chronological one, and hide like counts. Meta promised to ban extreme makeup filters and strengthen protections against unwanted contact from strangers.