Evening Wire: Meta To Pay $17 Billion Settlement & The Tate Lawyers’ Brutal Admission | 8.26.26

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**Georgia Howe** (1:03)
Meta agrees to dole out over $17 billion in a landmark settlement. Dolly Parton is honored across the world, even in the UK by the Royal Family. And a shocking reveal about the Tate brothers' public persona is revealed by their own attorneys. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Wednesday, August 26th, and this is Evening Wire.

**John Bickley** (1:26)
In a landmark legal settlement, Meta has agreed to pay up to a $17 billion penalty for violating federal child privacy and state consumer protection laws. Data Wire contributor Tim Pearce has the story.
Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, reached the settlement with 47 states, three US territories, and the District of Columbia. Part of the penalties hinge on if other major social platforms agree to settle similar lawsuits facing them. According to the terms, Meta will pay about $12 billion upfront, and then another $5 billion if the owners of Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube make similar settlements. Meta described the deal as an effort to set a new industry standard for social media companies, as Meta agrees to new restrictions on its own operations. Instagram and Facebook will make major changes that include strength into age verification, no more notifications at night, and a two hour daily use limit.

**Georgia Howe** (2:17)
Country music icon Dolly Parton's international honors and recognition have continued to pour in since she passed on Tuesday. And her cause of death has also been revealed. Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Amanda Harding has more.

**Amanda Harding** (2:30)
Within hours of Parton's death, President Trump announced that the American flag would be flown at half staff for a week, in honor of one of country music's biggest stars. Here was Trump talking about Parton with radio host Glenn Beck.

**Donald Trump** (2:41)
She wasn't a very political person. She really liked me, I will tell you, but she also wanted to stay very, you know, she was of the opinion, you know, the 50% who needs to lose. I don't think it's 50 I think it's probably 20% of the fans, okay, not 50
But she was a great person, and she was just a nice person. You know, I liked her a lot. And I thought it was a natural thing to lower the flags.

**Amanda Harding** (3:06)
In the UK, Parton received a tribute from Buckingham Palace. During the changing of the guard on Wednesday morning, the military band played one of Parton's hits, Nine to Five.
And breaking this afternoon, the cause of the late icon's passing has been revealed to be a private fight with cancer. The details were confirmed by a spokesperson for Parton's estate. A statement was also released saying, after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her earthly life at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones. The type of cancer was not specified, but according to TMZ, an earlier hospitalization had to do with kidney and autoimmune issues.

**John Bickley** (4:00)
Trump-backed Senator Darlene Graham Nordone won South Carolina's Republican Senate runoff yesterday, defeating Representative Ralph Norman 53% to 47%, and securing the GOP nomination for a full six-year term. Graham Nordone, who was appointed to finish the Senate term of her late brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, entered the race with President Trump's endorsement, along with backing from Governor Henry McMaster and Senator Tim Scott. Trump personally rallied voters behind her ahead of the runoff, while more than $5 million in outside spending targeted Norman during the final two weeks of the race. Graham Nordone will now face far-left Democrat Annie Andrews in November's general election.

**Georgia Howe** (4:40)
Since LA Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman debated a week ago, the reviews of each candidate's performance have been rough. According to Fox News, one voter described the choice in front of voters as disgraceful. The event itself was fiery, with both candidates talking over one another, attacking each other and offering little of their plans for LA to voters.