What happened
Meta has agreed to an $18B settlement with 29 states. Buried in the agreement is a provision that permits Meta to retain certain data from children under 13. This data is to be used for training and testing age-detection models, according to TechCrunch.
Why it matters
The inclusion of this data retention clause underscores a privacy trade-off built into the settlement. While the agreement resolves legal challenges, it also provides Meta with a legal pathway to keep children's data for a specific purpose. This raises questions about the balance between regulatory enforcement and data privacy protections for minors.