Should the Government or Parents Decide How Children Use Social Media?

In this episode of the California Sports Lawyer Podcast, host Jeremy Evans examines whether government or parents should decide how children use social media. A court-approved settlement between Meta and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general establishes new protections for users under 18, including default time limits, overnight restrictions, school-hour notification controls, age-assurance measures, and expanded parental tools. Jeremy discusses how the settlement balances platform accountability and child protection against parental authority and family autonomy. The episode also explores the use of litigation and consent judgments to establish rules affecting millions of families, the influence of default settings, privacy concerns surrounding age-assurance technology, and whether government-backed protections may become permanent controls in practice. As social media, technology, privacy, public policy, and law continue converging, protecting children will require responsible product design, truthful disclosures, meaningful parental tools, and accountability for unlawful conduct. Success will also depend on legal frameworks addressing data collection, age assurance, parental consent, platform features, transparency, and clear limits on government authority while preserving parents as the principal decision-makers in their children’s lives. (Season 8, Episode 34). Copyright 2026. California Sports Lawyer. All Rights Reserved. (www.CSLlegal.com) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.