$92.7 Million Is on the Table. Will Vermont Listen to Young People?
Vermont recently secured $92.7M from Meta, the largest settlement with a single company in the state’s history. Thanks to the incredible work of Attorney General Charity Clark, Vermont built a strong case around something that should be obvious: young people were the victims of corporate greed. Instagram was designed to keep young people engaged and ultimately addicted, and Meta knew the toll that was taking on their mental health.
Now it’s time to decide how this money gets spent.
Those conversations are just getting started, and how we decide where the money goes, who it supports, and what it makes possible deserves time and attention. The process matters just as much as the results.
It’s heartening to hear Governor Phil Scott commit to ensuring these funds benefit young people. But, good intentions need a good process behind them.
The settlement exists because harm was done to Vermont’s young people. It only makes sense that the money - and just as importantly - the decisions about how to use it, should be shaped by young people, alongside the adults who are ready to listen, support, and work alongside them.
Here’s what Outright Vermont respectfully asks decision-makers to consider:
Build a plan for the Meta settlement dollars alongside young people, engaging as many young people across Vermont as possible. Don’t simply spend the money on their behalf.
That could look like:
Start with what young people have already told us. Across the state, young people have already done real work identifying what they need. One example is their recommendations for strengthening Vermont’s approach to Hazing, Harassment and Bullying. Whatever it takes to fully implement their recommendations, Vermont now has the resources to provide the training, ongoing support, and accountability to make them real.
Build on our youth councils - and go further. Vermont should be proud of what already exists to elevate young people’s voices. The Vermont State Youth Council and similar bodies have given young people a real, hard-won voice in state government, and the young people who serve on them do thoughtful, committed work. This settlement is a chance to build on that foundation - to reach young people in every corner of the state, not just those who are already in the room.
Make that engagement genuinely diverse. Young people are not a monolith. We need to hear from young people in rural towns and cities, from different economic backgrounds, BIPOC youth, youth with disabilities, LGBTQ+ youth, young people who have experienced mental health harms, and youth involved with DCF. If we are serious about understanding what young people need, we need to hear from a broad and representative range of them.
Go where young people are. Don’t make them come to you. If we genuinely want to hear from young people, we need to go to them - not wait for them to make their way to a public hearing. That means showing up at schools, youth centers, libraries, parks, movie theaters, farmer’s markets, community festivals, and other spaces they already know and trust.
Require organizations receiving these funds to demonstrate real youth engagement - not just youth programming. Any organization applying for these dollars should have to show how young people help shape its work and decisions. That could mean advisory councils with actual influence, youth staff, paid youth consultants, or co-designed programming - not simply demonstrating that the organization serves young people.
Pay young people for their time and expertise. If we’re asking young people to engage - whether by responding to surveys, evaluating proposals, or helping design programs — they deserve to be compensated for their expertise and for sharing solutions rooted in their lived experiences.
Prioritize rural and underserved communities. Isolation is a real experience for many young people living in Vermont’s rural communities. Any process for deciding how these funds are spent should make a deliberate effort to hear from and invest in young people in communities that are often harder to reach and too often left out.
Build in transparency and an ongoing role for youth oversight. Publish where the money goes in language people can understand. Report regularly on how the funds are being and what they are accomplishing. And make sure young people - not only legislators and state officials - have a meaningful, ongoing way to review and question how this investment is performing over time.
None of this is unreasonable to ask the adults who will ultimately make decisions about these funds. It simply asks that young people be trusted to know what they need to thrive, and that Vermont resist the instinct - no matter how well-intentioned - to decide on their behalf what's best for them.
Vermont’s young people didn’t ask to be the target of Meta. They didn’t ask to be at the center of a multistate lawsuit. But they are the ones who lived through the harms this settlement is meant to address.
They deserve a meaningful voice in what happens next.