In the wake of Meta’s landmark $17 billion legal settlement on Wednesday, media buyers are cautioning against any abrupt shift in strategy, according to interviews with five agency executives.
Instead, brands and agencies should monitor the situation while keeping an eye on whether or not other social media platforms follow in Meta’s footsteps.
The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, agreed to pay $12.7 billion in settlement fees, which would rise to around $18 billion if its peers at YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok also implement the new restrictions it plans to adopt, which include a blackout period at night, notification limits during school hours, and a daily time limit of two hours.
One reason for this prudence is that the settlement does not affect the ad-buying mechanisms, according to Jack Johnston, vice president of innovation and growth at Tinuiti.
“This is not an advertising system change today,” Johnston said. “It is a potential audience supply change.”
Much of Meta’s value as an advertising platform comes from its sophisticated ad-targeting. Since it is unaffected in its structure, there is little reason to change course immediately, according to Ankit Jadav, associate director of paid social at Rain.
“Meta’s $18 billion child safety settlement doesn’t touch personalized targeting or our core buying mechanics,” Jadav said. “It’s about teen usage limits, not adtech.”
For agencies whose client base skews older, the settlement is close to a non-event, according to Andrew Becks, founder and CEO 301 Digital. Becks’ clients are largely targeting audiences over age 18, so the new restrictions have little direct impact on his buying operations.
But for brands trying to reach teens, the restrictions could drive up the price of that inventory.
“For brands that do market to younger audiences, this will certainly require a shift in strategy,” he said. “It may also drive costs to reach under 18s even higher, since there will likely be fewer overall ad impressions available from minors due to restrictions in the amount of time they’re allowed to spend on the platforms.”
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That supply-side squeeze is where buyers with youth-adjacent clients expect the real impact to land. Categories including gaming, fast food, and fashion, which lean on teen-driven discovery, could be disproportionately affected, according to Jadav. Even then, the effects will likely be felt gradually.
“Expect a slow, delayed softening in reach/relevance rather than an immediate hit, likely showing up over 12 to 18 months—faster if TikTok, Snap, and YouTube follow suit,” said Jadav.
Nearly every buyer emphasized that same contingency. If these restrictions stay limited to Meta, the effect will be relatively isolated; if the other social platforms follow in its footsteps, this ruling could result in a larger shift in the paid media space.
“If the restrictions remain concentrated on Meta, some teen attention and advertiser investment may move to other platforms,” said Danielle Schultz, head of paid social at PMG. “If the settlement’s industry-wide adoption provisions lead to similar limits elsewhere, the total supply of teen social media inventory could contract.”
In the meantime, brands and agencies should note this moment as a baseline and compare against it in the coming months to monitor for any notable changes in cost or efficacy, three of the buyers advised.
Brands should document reach, frequency, CPM, placement, time of day, and conversion quality across the 13- to 17-year-old demographic and 18- to 24-year-old demographic, according to Schultz. They should also flag which campaigns lean most heavily on teen delivery or youth-led creator discovery.
Josh Rosenberg, co-founder and CEO of Day One Agency, framed the settlement as a reminder that brands and agencies should never rely too heavily on any single ecosystem.
“The smartest brands will build relationships that can travel with their audiences, rather than relationships that are dependent on any one platform or algorithm,” Rosenberg said.