Virginia to receive $353 million in landmark Meta child-safety settlement

Good morning from The Mercury.

By Markus Schmidt

Virginia is set to receive at least $353 million from Meta Platforms Inc. under a major multistate settlement that would also require the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to adopt new safeguards aimed at protecting children from addictive features and harmful content. 

The agreement, announced Wednesday, could reach more than $17 billion nationwide, making it one of the largest state consumer protection settlements in U.S. history outside the Big Tobacco agreements of the 1990s. It remains subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the case was filed. 

By Shannon Heckt

PJM, the regional grid operator for most of the East Coast, is asking federal regulators to approve a rule requiring new large-load customers, namely data centers, to bring their own power supply to the grid. 

With Virginia among the 13 states served by PJM, the proposal filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could mean further changes to how the state regulates the growing industry. It follows calls from some Virginia lawmakers to make data centers provide their own power as utility bills continue to rise alongside demand.

By Nathaniel Cline

Virginians can now carry their state-issued driver’s license or identification card on their iPhone or Apple Watch, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles announced Wednesday in Richmond.

The update comes as Virginians increasingly turn to smart devices for everyday activities, including shopping and entertainment events. In 2017, state lawmakers tasked the DMV with creating standards for issuing, reviewing, and displaying electronic credentials following an extensive pilot research program. Last November, the agency launched Virginia Mobile ID before the technology offer became available on Apple.

By Jacob Fischler

Democrat-led states and voting rights groups re-filed lawsuits Wednesday to block the Trump administration from executing a new regulation to restrict mail-in voting, while a federal judge lifted a nationwide pause on the policy in line with this week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that handed the administration a procedural win.

Democratic officials in 24 states and the District of Columbia launched a new federal lawsuit challenging a U.S. Postal Service rule establishing federal vote-by-mail standards as unconstitutional and a coalition of voting rights advocates filed a supplemental complaint against the USPS rule after the Supreme Court struck down a similar suit as premature.

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