Social media biggies have taken it on the chin from juries this week. And although, for reasons I’ll get to, I’m skeptical that the verdicts will hold up on appeal, I do think there are some important lessons here.
The cases themselves are, by now, well known. On Tuesday, a jury in New Mexico awarded $375 million against Meta Platforms Inc. for harm that its products allegedly cause to children and teens. The next day, a California jury handed down a $6 million judgment against Meta and Alphabet Inc.’s Google for allegedly creating the plaintiff’s social media addiction, which in turn led ...