this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
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Meta and Google just lost a landmark social media addiction case. A tech law expert explains the fallout (theconversation.com)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by cm0002@europe.pub to c/technology@piefed.social
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Social media platforms Instagram and YouTube have a design defect which means they are addictive, a jury in the United States has ruled.

The Los Angeles jury took nearly nine days to reach its verdict in the landmark case brought by a woman known as KGM against social media platforms. It awarded US$3 million in damages, with Meta (owner of Instagram) being 70% responsible and Google (owner of YouTube) 30%. The jury later awarded a further US$3 million in punitive damages.

Both TikTok and Snap settled on confidential terms before the six-week trial commenced.

This is Meta’s second big loss in the US courts this week, with a New Mexico jury finding the company guilty on March 24 of concealing information about the risks of child sexual exploitation and the harmful effects of its platforms on children’s mental health.

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[–] Rekall_Incorporated@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is all meaningless.

It's just corruption American style.

To actually change behaviour you would need immediate detainment of all senior leadership (have Zuckerberg in underwear, with a bag over this face), immediate, potentially indefinite, shut down of FB/Insta, house arrest for all employees above 25 (if they are not a flight risk).

But most importantly you need a real court and judicial system that wouldn't hesitate to apply full asset seizure (potentially expanded to cover family and close business partners) and would focus on real community service programs for rehabilitation (repair work in Chernobyl, de-ming work, junior janitor work in an infectious disease hospital in rural Africa), with a year of community service given for every median local annual salary in damage.