Big Tech invincibility is over: Historic social medial addiction ruling against Meta, Google could open legal floodgates

A historic ruling finding Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and YouTube parent Google liable for fueling teen social media addiction could open the floodgates for an unprecedented legal crackdown on Big Tech, critics told The Post.Following nine days of deliberations, a Los Angeles jury ruled Wednesday in favor of a 20-year-old woman known only as “KGM,” who said apps like Facebook and Instagram wrecked her mental health after she became addicted to them as a teen.The woman was awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and another $3 million in punitive damages, with Meta paying 70% and Google, 30%.Critics say the bombshell verdict could be just the start of a costly headache for Meta and Google, which still face thousands of pending lawsuits across federal and state courts that could result in more penalties — as well as pending legislation on Capitol Hill, such as the Kids Online Safety Act — which would rein in their behavior.“The era of Big Tech invincibility is over – this ruling is an earthquake that shakes Big Tech’s predatory business model to its core,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, an online safety watchdog.“These products were purposefully designed to harm, addict millions of young people, and lead to lifelong mental health consequences,” Haworth added.The legal shield that has long protected social media firms from harm is now “gone,” said Jonathan Haidt, a Big Tech critic and host of the best-seller “The Anxious Generation.”“They will be treated like any industry that knowingly harms children and lies about it,” he wrote on X.“History will judge them as harshly as the tobacco industry.”Sen.

Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a frequent critic of Big Tech, called the verdict “a monumental victory for parents, children, families, and survivors.”“Now that Big Tech has been found liable for the harms they have pushed on our kids, it’s time for Congress to enshrine protections for American...