Kentucky Deputy Attorney General Rob Duncan said it's possible Kentucky may have won more money from the tech company had the case gone through trial, but he maintained the safety changes — such as a hard cap on daily time limits on Instagram and Facebook — were more important concessions.
"The protections that we secured in this settlement are better than anything that we could have won in court," he said.
Yet, Nicholasville Rep. Matt Lockett was quick to note that the protections have an expiration date on Meta's end, with the time limits and pauses for children on its platform staying in effect for a minimum of five years.
If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable terms, the limits will stay in place twice as long.
"We have to keep in mind that these terms are five years and ten years. And to say that I don't trust Meta is a very heavy statement, but I don't trust Meta," he said. "And so I think that it's incumbent upon us as a General Assembly that we do put these into statute, that these protections are in law."
The Kentucky General Assembly has the leeway to do so, as well as the authority to direct settlement funds wherever they choose. Both of those items are expected to show up on the legislature's agenda during the 2027 session.