Big News on Big Tech — Plus Defending Life, Fighting Assisted Suicide, and More Stories from the Week

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Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

Homeschool Surge Continues in Arkansas. In 2016, there were 19,520 homeschoolers across the state. Today, that number has more than doubled. Keep Reading.

U.S. Sen. Cotton Praises Pregnancy Resource Center for “Doing the Lord’s Work,” Building Strong Families. Last week, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas posted a video at the New Beginnings Pregnancy Center in Saline County, praising the center and saying, “They’re doing the Lord’s work for young moms and dads and babies, helping to turn them into strong families.” Cotton said protecting the unborn is one of his top priorities in the U.S. Senate. Keep Reading.

Meta Settles Teen Social Media Addiction Lawsuits for $17 Billion. If approved in court, Arkansas would receive nearly $172.5 million. Keep Reading.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Files Lawsuit Similar to Arkansas’ Against TikTok. The lawsuit is similar to a pair of consumer protection lawsuits Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed in 2023. Keep Reading.

Chinese-Backed Temu has Until End of this Week to Respond to A.G. Griffin’s Deceptive Trade Allegations. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sued Temu in 2024, alleging Temu uses bargain pricing as a lure so the company can secretly harvest users’ private information. Keep Reading.

U.S. Senators Ask TikTok to Answer for its “Depraved” Safety Experiment. Two U.S. senators are demanding answers from TikTok over a “depraved” experiment it ran that involved secretly withholding a safety feature from millions of users — including children — on its platform. Keep Reading.

Reinventing the Sabbath: Guest Column. A recent article by science writer Elizabeth Svoboda at the Wall Street Journal argued that an occasional 24-hour break is good for mind and body. As she wrote: Keep Reading.

News Report Shows How Legalizing Marijuana Fails to Stop the Black Market. WXYZ-TV News in Detroit reported last week that police raided a gas station accused of selling tobacco and marijuana to minors. Nationwide, states like Michigan have legalized marijuana to varying degrees, and federal regulators have eased restrictions on the drug. But while policymakers push for more marijuana, pundits continue to raise concerns about legalization’s unintended consequences. Keep Reading.

Colorado’s Assisted Suicide Reports Show Incomplete Medical Data, Lack of Mental Health Evaluations. Public health data from Colorado shows that patients approved for assisted suicide likely are not being screened by mental health experts, and the assisted suicide reports that doctors submit to the State are sometimes incomplete. Keep Reading.

From Our Friends

Redefining “American Exceptionalism” from Breakpoint.

McKenna West: They Would Have Shot Baby Gabriel in the Heart With Poison to Abort Him from LifeNews.

ADF Warns WNBA that Censoring Fans May Come at Legal Cost from Alliance Defending Freedom.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Homeschool Surge Continues in Arkansas

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The number of homeschoolers in Arkansas has more than doubled over the past ten years and is on track to go even higher.

In 2016, there were 19,520 homeschoolers across the state. By 2023, homeschooling had surged to nearly 30,000 students. And now official reports from the Arkansas Department of Education show that 40,470 children filed as homeschoolers during the 2026 school year.

One reason for the recent surge in homeschooling may be the Educational Freedom Account (EFA) program that Arkansas established under the LEARNS Act in 2023.

The EFA program makes it possible for students to use public funds to pay for an education at a public or private school or at home. Thousands of homeschool students have taken advantage of the program and test scores show they are excelling.

Many families feel that public education has deteriorated over the years, and they don’t like the direction it is heading. For those families, the EFA program offers real alternatives that help their children succeed. That is part of the reason Family Council and its Education Alliance homeschool division have supported the EFA program.

The State of Arkansas seems to be getting more out of each education dollar invested in homeschooling through the EFA program than anywhere else. That’s good for everyone.

The number of homeschoolers in Arkansas has risen drastically over the past decade — but especially since 2023.

As more families make good use of the EFA program, we believe Arkansas’ homeschool numbers could go even higher in the coming school year.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Meta Settles Teen Social Media Addiction Lawsuits for $17 Billion

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On Wednesday, social media giant Meta — owner of Facebook and Instagram — agreed to settle a slate of lawsuits over teen social media addiction for a total of up to $17.1 billion. If approved in court, Arkansas would receive nearly $172.5 million.

It has been estimated that 95% of American teenagers use social media, and about one-third use it “almost constantly.” But in recent years, state attorneys general have filed lawsuits alleging social media platforms are addictive and harmful.

In 2023, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sued Meta in state court for endangering children. In the lawsuit, his office alleged that platforms like Facebook and Instagram are built around algorithms intentionally designed “to exploit human psychology and foster addiction to maximize users’ screen time.” The A.G. says this exploitation is especially harmful for young users with developing brains.

Arkansas’ lawsuit against Meta was the first of its kind, but since then dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed against Meta, TikTok, and other tech giants.

In a statement, Attorney General Griffin called the settlement “historic,” saying, “I am immensely grateful to the incredible attorneys and other staff in my office who have invested countless hours working on this case and helped secure this historic result for Arkansas and its children.”

Meta settled the cases the week before CEO Mark Zuckerberg was set to take the stand in a landmark lawsuit that claims Meta routinely collected data on children under 13 without parental consent, in violation of federal law. The lawsuit also alleges the company knowingly designed its platforms to addict young users and hid what it knew about the harm its platforms caused.

Under this settlement, Meta will be required to shut teen accounts down overnight and limit how long kids spend on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta will also hide the “like” counts it built to keep kids hooked, and it will implement age verification and age-appropriate content controls.

The settlement does not include any admission of wrongdoing on Meta’s part or an apology to anyone who may have been harmed by Meta’s platforms.

It’s worth pointing out that courts in New Mexico and California have already found Meta liable for harming children on its platforms.

Social media giant TikTok has also found itself embroiled in controversies for failing to protect private user data from entities in China — including the Chinese Communist Party.

TikTok has also been accused of serving users a steady “diet of darkness” and violating laws intended to protect children online.

Tech platforms are multibillion-dollar for-profit corporations. The adults who own and profit from these businesses have a responsibility to protect their users — especially teenagers.

Children deserve proactive protection online. If tech companies won’t give children that protection, then it’s up to voters and elected officials to make sure they get it. Family Council appreciates Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and the other state attorneys general who have gone to court to protect kids online.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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