Meta sues FTC over child data dispute, claiming ‘unconstitutional authority’

Meta is suing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over a child data dispute, claiming that recent restrictions on a 2020 settlement demonstrated “unconstitutional authority.”

The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, is largely based on the FTC imposing additional restrictions on a 2020 privacy order issued to Meta by the FTC over the use of child data. The initial order required the company to pay $5 billion and expand its privacy program.

In May, the FTC alleged Meta violated childrens’ online privacy rules over how it represented capabilities of a kids messaging app between 2017 and 2019. As a result, the agency proposed additional restrictions on Meta, including banning the company from monetizing data of children and teens under 18.

A D.C. district court judge ruled against Meta in a separate lawsuit Monday, saying that the FTC is able to seek to lower the amount of money Meta makes from data from people under the age of 18. Judge Timothy Kelly denied the motion from Meta that asked the court to take over its dispute with the FTC, saying the court lacked the jurisdiction over the FTC’s 2020 order.

Now, Meta is arguing in the new lawsuit that the FTC does not have the constitutional authority to change the terms of the order.

“That obvious power grab — to unilaterally alter an agreed-upon, court-approved order through a prejudged administrative adjudication — provides perhaps the greatest example of the Commission’s structural defects resulting in an unconstitutional adjudication by fiat,” the complaint reads.

“Indeed, any semblance of an unbiased review is belied by the fact that the Commission has already issued its preliminary finding of facts, and a formal determination that modifications to the 2020 Order are ‘needed,’ before Meta has even had a chance to respond,” it continued.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted Meta for the lawsuit.

“@Meta’s lawsuit against @FTC is like big tobacco trying to gut the FDA because they didn’t want to be held accountable for hooking kids onto nicotine,” Warren wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “The FTC has been around for over a century now. This agency is constitutional and using its powers to apply the law as written.”

Meta said that the judge in Monday’s ruling suggested that the company raise its issues over the dispute in a separate lawsuit. The spokesperson said the FTC “shouldn’t be the prosecutor, judge, and jury in the same case.”

“The FTC’s unilateral attempt to rewrite our privacy settlement agreement raises serious and important issues about the FTC’s constitutional authority and Meta’s Due Process rights,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

The FTC declined The Hill’s request for comment.

—Updated at 4:09 p.m.