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Why the Meta Verdicts Are a Big Deal (And What It Was Like to Testify)

Why the Meta Verdicts Are a Big Deal (And What It Was Like to Testify)

Your Undivided Attention vor 5 Monaten

Meta and Google have been found liable for addictive design and failing to protect children and Aza took the stand as a witness. Is this the Big Tobacco moment for social media? Tristan and Aza discuss the verdicts, what the companies knew and when, and w

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In two landmark cases, juries in California and New Mexico found
Meta and Google liable for creating addictive, harmful products
and failing to protect children from exploitation and abuse.
These verdicts signal that the era of tech impunity may finally
be closing. State attorneys general are finding ways around the
broad immunity of Section 230 — seeking not just fines, but
changes to the design of these products.

Our very own Aza Raskin testified at the New Mexico trial as a
fact witness, drawing on his firsthand experience as the inventor
of infinite scroll, one of the core mechanics of addictive
design. In this episode, Tristan and Aza discuss what it was like
to take the stand for tech justice, what the companies knew and
when, and why the real significance of these cases lies not in
the dollar amounts but in the injunctive relief still to come.

In the 1990s, a series of landmark cases held Big Tobacco
accountable for the harms of their toxic products. This could be
that moment for social media.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA

Further reading on the New Mexico trial

Further reading on the California trial

Arturo Béjar’s “Broken Promises” Report

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