At last, David has landed a double punch on the tech Goliaths. Now to hit them even harder

TL;DR

Meta was fined $375m in New Mexico for enabling harm, including child sexual exploitation, and misleading consumers about platform safety.
A California jury awarded $6m to a young user who argued Meta's products were deliberately designed to be addictive and caused her harm.
These verdicts could bypass Section 230, the liability shield protecting tech companies, by focusing on the platform's design and recommendation systems.
Whistleblowers like Frances Haugen believe Meta could face payouts totaling a trillion dollars, potentially leading to bankruptcy.
While legal appeals are anticipated, jury verdicts are generally harder to overturn than judge's decisions, and thousands of similar cases are pending.
The article suggests that these US verdicts could influence regulatory action globally, with countries like Australia and Indonesia already implementing stricter rules for social media.
The author also draws parallels between old social media harms and potential future risks posed by AI, suggesting that the principle of holding companies liable for human-designed systems could apply to AI as well.

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