After its $18 billion settlement, Meta launched an unusual PR attack on TikTok and YouTube

Meta unexpectedly settled a lawsuit over teen social media addiction: the company will pay a base $12.7 billion, and if TikTok and YouTube adopt similar measures and reach their own settlements of $5.3 billion each, Meta will pay an additional $5.3 billion — pushing the total to as much as $18 billion. Under the settlement, teens' time on Instagram and Facebook will be capped at two hours a day, nighttime app access will be blocked, notifications will be regulated, and parental controls will be expanded.

But Meta didn't stop there — it immediately launched a social and print ad campaign openly calling on TikTok and YouTube to "join us in supporting teens." The ads direct readers to Meta's blog post about the settlement, which states: "We want teens to benefit from this new industry standard, but we can't do it alone — these measures will only truly work if peers like TikTok and YouTube take the same steps."

British PR consultant Mark Borkowski called the move "reputational jujitsu" — using an opponent's own strength against them. Brand and communications consultant Sam Goshay called it "a very clever move for Meta": the company is putting TikTok and YouTube in a position where nearly any response works in Meta's favor — if they follow suit, Meta can claim public pressure worked; if they don't, Meta looks like the "good guy."

Not everyone sees the strategy the same way, though. PR consultant Sarah Gooding called it "self-justifying and disingenuous," arguing that Meta would come closer to rebuilding trust with parents and the public if it first acknowledged its own mistakes and demonstrated real change, then appealed to the entire industry — not just TikTok and YouTube. Forrester analyst Kate Vinick notes the move could also backfire, given how negative public sentiment toward Meta currently is.

Interestingly, if teens spend less time on Instagram, that time — and the ad dollars that follow it — could simply shift to other apps, namely TikTok and YouTube. That's why, as Borkowski notes, Meta has a clear commercial interest in "handing down" the same costs and restrictions to its rivals. Experts agree on one thing: the success of this kind of PR strategy will be measured not by words, but by how well Meta actually delivers on its own promises.