This settlement — and the litigation that led to it — was effectively a backdoor effort by the government to mandate age verification. It succeeded. Now Meta is pressuring TikTok and YouTube to voluntarily adopt the same requirements and restrictions found in its settlement. It’s hard to know whether that pressure stems from genuine concern for kids or Meta’s own bottom line. Some of the restrictions it agreed to could put it at a competitive disadvantage unless its rivals follow suit. Nevertheless, few people are talking about the free speech and privacy implications of the settlement — including for adults, who are on the fast track to having to verify their identity before accessing vast swaths of the internet, including this website. It just so happens that earlier this week I hosted a @freespeechtalk debate on this very topic, where we also touched on the AG’s lawsuit against Meta: