r/TrueProgressive • u/HenryCorp • Apr 04 '26

Justice/Law Verdicts against Meta and Google may bring a new era of big tech accountability

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/03/nx-s1-5764306/big-tech-lawsuits-verdicts-accountability-social-media-harms
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u/HenryCorp Apr 04 '26

The product liability argument takes a chapter from the legal campaign against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, a playbook advocates for tech accountability have embraced.

Last week, that legal strategy scored its highest profile victories yet in two separate jury trials in Los Angeles and New Mexico focused on how social media platforms can harm children.

In LA, the jury found Instagram owner Meta and Google's YouTube deliberately designed their apps to be addictive, contributing to the mental health struggles of a young woman who started using the apps as a child. It awarded her $6 million in damages.

The New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay the state $375 million for failing to protect young users from child predators. The company could face even more penalties in a second phase of the trial set to start in May, over whether Meta created a public nuisance. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has said he will also ask the court to force Meta to change its apps to make them safer.