NEW YORK, December 28, 2025, 18:31 ET — Market closed
- Meta shares fell 0.7% on Friday to $663.29.
- New York enacted a law requiring mental-health warning labels on social media platforms with features such as infinite scroll and autoplay. [1]
- A Washington Post report detailed internal Instagram plans to win back teens as lawsuits and oversight mount. [2]
Meta Platforms shares slipped in light post-Christmas trading on Friday, with investors weighing fresh scrutiny over teen engagement and “addictive” social-media features. [3]
The issue matters for Meta because youth safety is shifting from reputational risk into rules, enforcement actions and lawsuits that can force product changes. That can affect user time spent on apps and, in turn, advertising inventory — still Meta’s core business. [4]
It also arrives in a holiday-thinned market, when small shifts in sentiment can move large-cap tech shares more than usual. [5]
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday the state will require platforms that offer features such as “addictive feeds,” autoplay or infinite scroll to display warning labels about potential harm to young users’ mental health. [6]
The law allows the state attorney general to bring legal action and seek civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, Reuters reported. [7]
A so-called algorithmic feed — a feed ranked by software rather than posted in time order — is among the features targeted, along with design that keeps content loading or playing without a stop. New York’s press office said the warnings must appear when a young user first uses the feature and periodically thereafter, and users cannot bypass the warnings. [8]
Spokespeople for TikTok, Snap, Meta and Alphabet did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the New York measure. [9]
Separately, the Washington Post reported on Friday that leaked internal documents show Instagram pursued a multiyear strategy to recapture teen users, including internal initiatives and product changes aimed at boosting teen engagement, even as legal pressure increased. [10]
“that charmed period is over,” Max Willens, a principal analyst at eMarketer, told the Washington Post. [11]
Meta, which owns Instagram, said it rejects any implication that its efforts to reach younger users conflict with safety work, according to the Post. [12]
Meta shares closed Friday down 0.7% at $663.29. The broader U.S. market ended little changed in muted trading, with the S&P 500 edging down 2.11 points and the Nasdaq Composite slipping 20.21 points, the Associated Press reported. [13]
Before the next session, traders will watch Monday’s U.S. data calendar for signals on growth and interest rates, including the advance international trade report at 8:30 a.m. ET and pending home sales at 10:00 a.m. ET, according to the New York Fed’s schedule of releases. [14]
The next major company catalyst is Meta’s quarterly results. The company has not announced a reporting date; Nasdaq’s earnings calendar estimates Meta will report on Feb. 4, 2026. [15]
On the chart, Meta is hovering near $663, below its 52-week high of $796.25 and above its 52-week low of $479.80. Its 50-day moving average — the average closing price over the past 50 sessions, a common trend gauge — was about $657.40, Yahoo Finance data showed. [16]
References
1. www.reuters.com, 2. www.washingtonpost.com, 3. www.washingtonpost.com, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. apnews.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. www.governor.ny.gov, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. www.washingtonpost.com, 11. www.washingtonpost.com, 12. www.washingtonpost.com, 13. apnews.com, 14. www.newyorkfed.org, 15. www.nasdaq.com, 16. finance.yahoo.com
