Today we go to Maine, where Democrats hoping to retake the Senate are facing off against some of the most independent-minded voters in the country.
Plus, we look at the unintended consequences of Meta’s settlement over product safety and mental health.
Maine: Could This Be the End of Susan Collins’ Senate Career?
The road to the Senate majority may run through Maine. Republican Susan Collins has held her seat since 1997 and built a reputation as one of the toughest incumbents in the country to beat. But this year she’s facing a challenger Democrats never planned on.
Former state Senate President Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger, took over the Democratic nomination in July after primary winner Graham Platner dropped out amid sexual assault allegations he denies.
The final Marist poll has Jackson ahead by two points among likely voters, within the margin of error. Yet nearly six in 10 Mainers in that same poll say they expect Collins to win.
CBS 13 anchor Gregg Lagerquist, who moderated the first Collins-Jackson debate, says her experience, seniority and reputation as an independent-minded Republican have helped her survive difficult elections. In 2020, polls showed her trailing, but she won by nine points.
What Lagerquist says:
“Six years ago, even when the polls were showing Susan Collins losing, there was a swagger within her circle, within her camp, a confidence that they could get it across the finish line. And obviously they did. That swagger is not there this cycle.”On a National Level: Democrats see Maine as a key opportunity to retake the Senate. And if neither candidate wins a majority, Maine’s ranked-choice voting system could mean the country waits even longer to learn the outcome.
Meta’s $17 Billion Settlement: Protecting Kids or Expanding Surveillance?
More than 50 attorneys general, Republican and Democrat, joined a sweeping case against Meta. Their accusation: Facebook and Instagram were designed to hook kids and teens, while Meta knew its products could harm young people’s mental health and misled the public about their safety.
Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion, subject to court approval and conditions, and introduce new protections for younger users. Those include daily time limits, nighttime restrictions, silenced notifications during school hours and stronger parental controls.
To enforce age-based restrictions, Meta needs to know who is a teenager and who isn’t. That means age verification or age assurance could affect adult users, too.
The privacy concern: David Greene, senior counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argues that the settlement could require Meta to collect more personal information while limiting young people’s control over their own online experiences.
What Greene says:
“The settlement just commits them, in the name of checking how effective it’s going to be, to collecting more data about young people, and actually about all of its users, who have to go through an age assurance process.”On a National Level: The settlement could help establish new expectations for the entire social media industry. But Greene argues that stronger privacy laws and safety tools available to everyone would offer a better approach than mandatory age verification.
That’s the briefing for today.
What races are you watching on Election Day? And do you think Meta is doing enough to protect kids, or do its new requirements go too far?
Join the conversation.
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