Settlements Become De Facto Platform Regulation

Big tech platforms increasingly resolve high‑profile youth‑harm cases via settlements just before trial, which avoids public fact‑finding and leaves legal precedent unsettled. That pattern concentrates negotiation leverage with corporations and can hollow out the public accountability that courts or juries might otherwise provide. — If settlements supplant trials, democratic oversight of platform harms will shift from public adjudication to private deals, altering incentives for product changes, transparency, and regulation.