The agreement, which is subject to court approval, also requires significant new safeguards on Instagram and Facebook, including time limits, nighttime restrictions, stronger parental controls and protections against harmful content.
That is real progress. But it is only part of the solution.
Safer screens can reduce young people’s exposure to harm but they cannot offer a teen a trusted and caring adult who notices when something is wrong. They cannot create a circle of friends, a sense of purpose or a place in the community. They cannot replace the experiences through which young people discover what they care about, what they are capable of and where they belong.
As Maine considers how to use its share of the settlement, we should ask a fundamental question: What will we build for young people in the real world?
At the Rural Youth Institute, we see the answer every day. Young people thrive when they have sustained relationships with caring adults, meaningful connections to their peers and opportunities to explore their communities and their futures.
Social infrastructure
Rural Youth Institute’s Aspirations Incubator brings together youth-serving organizations across rural Maine around that premise. These organizations create relationships that grow over years, not minutes, clicks or sessions. They provide the consistency young people need to become confident, capable and connected.
This is social infrastructure, and Maine needs more of it.
The need is especially urgent in rural communities. Young people living outside Maine’s population centers deserve the same rich networks of relationships, opportunities and support available elsewhere. Too often, however, distance, transportation and limited local resources place those experiences out of reach.
That carries consequences not only for young people, but for Maine’s future.
Business leaders across the state are rightly concerned about workforce shortages, population trends and the long-term vitality of rural communities. A state that wants young people to learn, work, build businesses and raise families here must first give them reasons to believe they have a future here.
That work begins long before a job application or first paycheck. It begins when a young person is known by name, encouraged to take a risk, introduced to a new possibility and given a meaningful role in their community.
Maine’s opportunity
Maine now has an unusual opportunity to strengthen those foundations.
A meaningful share of the Meta settlement should be invested directly in community-based youth development: mentoring, after-school and summer programs, outdoor and experiential learning, arts and sports, mental health supports and opportunities that connect young people with education, careers and civic life.
That investment should be deliberate. It should prioritize organizations with deep local relationships, provide sustained rather than short-term funding and ensure that rural communities receive an equitable share. Young people themselves should also have a voice in deciding what kinds of opportunities their communities need.
Maine’s business and philanthropic communities have a role to play as well. Employers can advocate for transparent, youth-centered investment of the settlement funds.
They can contribute mentors, career exploration, job-shadowing and hands-on learning. Private philanthropy can extend the reach of public dollars and help effective local programs build lasting capacity.
We should not simply take something harmful away from young people and leave a vacuum behind. We need to fill that space with something better.
The Meta settlement sends an important message: Young people’s well-being cannot be treated as an afterthought to a technology company’s business model. Maine can now send an equally important message through the choices it makes with these resources.
Let’s make technology safer. But let’s also make young people’s lives richer, with relationships, belonging, purpose and opportunity.
Let’s use this moment to fund real life.
