Big Tech faces Big Resistance

Meta's landmark social media settlement marks the latest milestone in a decade-long unwinding of Big Tech's once-unfettered freedom to operate.

Why it matters: The AI industry is watching closely. Its historic expansion, already fraught with job risks and public anxiety, depends on building thousands of power-hungry data centers in communities where opposition is rising fast.

State of play: "The last time we've seen the public this angry about an industry was during the financial crisis," Nidhi Hegde, executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project, told Axios.

• Meta's $17 billion settlement requires sweeping changes to how teens can use Instagram and Facebook, including daily time limits and restrictions on certain beauty filters.
• The social media company is now calling on its competitors, YouTube and TikTok, to adopt similar protections — arguing there won't be "meaningful progress" on teen safety without them.

Between the lines: The pressure extends well beyond Meta, as public frustration with the tech industry increasingly produces court orders, cash penalties and constraints on how companies operate.

• Amazon agreed last year to pay $2.5 billion to settle an FTC consumer-protection case over Prime subscriptions.
• Apple and Google have both been forced to loosen their grip on app-store payments and distribution after years of litigation.
• TikTok agreed just last week to pay $400 million to settle federal allegations that it violated children's privacy laws.

Threat level: AI may be especially exposed because its growth depends on something the social media boom didn't: a massive physical buildout in communities that can fight back.

• Opposition to new data centers has jumped sharply: 61% of Americans now oppose one being built in their area, up 12 percentage points in just four months, according to an Annenberg survey.
• At least 75 data center projects worth roughly $130 billion were blocked or delayed in the first three months of this year amid local opposition, according to Data Center Watch.
• Up to half of proposed U.S. data centers could face delays or cancellations as the political backlash grows, investment firm Kimmeridge Energy Management told Bloomberg.

The intrigue: Major Wall Street banks are beginning to flag data center resistance as a financial risk, with delays threatening the enormous compute buildout AI companies are counting on.

Reality check: Big Tech still has enormous financial and political muscle.

• Meta's settlement is a fraction of the staggering penalties once contemplated, with early estimates suggesting the company could face more than $1 trillion in exposure.
• And despite the backlash, more than 1,500 data centers are already under construction in the U.S. — roughly half the number currently operating.

The bottom line: "Meta's settlement is a warning for the AI industry," Common Sense Media CEO James P. Steyer tells Axios. Big Tech remains immensely powerful, but its era of operational immunity is ending.