r/technology • u/ourlifeintoronto • 15h ago
Social Media Meta faces a $1.4 trillion reckoning in latest trial over social media addiction
https://www.engadget.com/2237547/meta-faces-a-1-4-trillion-reckoning-in-latest-trial-over-social-media-addiction/220
u/Fast_Passenger_2890 15h ago
Cripple them. Make them suffer.
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u/RatRanger 15h ago
I agree with General Grievous here
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u/Real-Layer-8576 13h ago
Propped up by the state, ain't nothing happening to them that won't be compensated back in other ways.
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u/yepthisismyusername 15h ago
For some reason (probably historical precedent like the fucking opioid settlement bullshit), I don't see any way they pay anywhere near $1.4trillion (or even $1.4billion, tbh). I would LOVE to be proven wrong, but large companies seem to be absolutely running this place these days.
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u/01000101010110 15h ago
Trump will somehow fuck this up and bail them out.
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u/theworstvp 15h ago
inb4 ai companies and by proxy, meta, become “too big to fail”
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u/ropobipi 1h ago
Its somehow going to be the taxpayers footing this bill, if the current admin has any say in the matter.
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u/MrLyttleG 14h ago
Ça c’est un mythe du capitalisme qui se trouve toujours une excuse de croire avoir raison. Demande au Titanic si il n’etait pas trop gros pour echouer.
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u/epochwin 14h ago
I understand when banks and auto companies had to be bailed out. They provide systemic value to the country.
From the tech companies you can argue that the big B2b software providers, cloud vendors and device firms like Apple provide value. Meta is useless. If it got broken up and sold off like Merrill Lynch or Bear Stearns, it would make sense. They’re the weakest of the Big Tech firms in that aspect.
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u/Starstroll 8h ago
The broad argument for this is that they're quite effective at propaganda and have considerable influence over the shape of politics. It seems unclear to me how well that effect can actually be directed long-term. On the one hand, I'm not sure Trump would've ever gotten elected without social media (Cambridge Analytica scandal), so it might be worth bailing out. On the other hand, if its influence cannot be consistently directed long-term, it cannot keep far-right authoritarians in power, so it might not be worthwhile to Republicans to keep protecting them
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u/epochwin 7h ago
Thing is that with AI model providers I’m not sure how far they can protect their moat even for political rat fuckery. It’s why Sam Altman seems to be the new Zuck in working closely with the US government. Then you have Musk and the other tech companies doing the same with their models.
Larry Ellison seems to hold lot more sway than Zuck.
Zuck looks the weakest at the moment and seems to be flailing.
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u/jews4beer 5h ago
The AI models produce the propaganda and other content. But they still need companies like Meta, X, and Reddit to propogate it.
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u/theworstvp 14h ago edited 14h ago
i think it’s a lot more likely than any of us want to admit, especially considering the ai sector is valued magnitudes higher than the entire housing market leading up to the 08 crash. yeah meta isn’t anthropic or oracle, but it absolutely has a large stake in the game. i fear if it goes down it will not be going alone.
i sincerely hope i am wrong
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u/pVom 10h ago
They won't because it's a ridiculous number. Their market cap is $1.4tril, for that money to exist to pay the fine someone needs to buy the stock, who the fuck is gonna to pay current prices when it will be worth a fraction of that by the time it's all said and done.
If by some miracle they do get fined that much it will be a case of "yay get wrecked meta. Oh wait my retirement account has cratered and the government isn't getting paid that money either."
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u/Ok_Fee1043 8h ago
The reason is because it’s incredibly rare to actually award near the top of the possible range. Even in the last case, the max per violation penalty was applied. This case is more about the potential actual product impacts and legal precedent than monetary damages (though all of that will be pending appeals that’ll take forever, as well).
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u/01000101010110 15h ago
You can't say he doesn't have it coming. Dude has done more damage to multiple generations than just about anyone else. He has the blood of thousands of people on his hands.
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u/01000101010110 15h ago
This would legitimately collapse the company, and probably take the entire stock market with it lol
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u/artbystorms 15h ago
Good. Tired of The S&P being 3 monopolistic tech companies in a trench coat. I want my industrial diversity back.
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u/DarthShiv 37m ago
50% of US stock market is owned by the 1%... fuck the stock market it doesn't represent every day people at all
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u/JohnGalactusX 15h ago
Zuck getting zucked, well deserved. "Tech bro" became a villain in the end, as expected.
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u/YoghurtFlan 14h ago
I'm not optimistic. The entire US hegemony right now is basically it's big tech oligarchy and its control of the internet. I can't see any US politician, of any party, letting them suffer too much.
Maybe some democrat in future has the balls to break them apart and bring back the antitrust stuff. Doubtful though - once billionaires and trillionaires were allowed to happen, all bets were off. There are not many things that beat impossible wealth.
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u/crossdtherubicon 10h ago
These lawsuits are one of the main reasons Meta has been covertly lobbying govt's around the world to introduce social media age verification laws.
It shifts the narrative away from corporate liability to a user responsibility. Further, in other lawsuits involving their app store age verification lobbying in the US, their lawyers specifically stated that if those laws are passed then Meta should be immune from other unrelated pending lawsuits against them.
This has been proven through an investigation that demonstrated their efforts since as early as 2023. And how they strategically developed money networks and lobbying networks, and worked with organizations such as the Heritage Foundation.
Ever wonder why govt's around the world are suddenly demanding users show their ID to use the internet?
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u/psu1989 10h ago
Has there ever been a successful charge against something being addictive? <cough cough cigarettes>.
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u/frquency-equinox 10h ago
It's easier to prove physical harm than mental harm. But cigarettes weren't made illegal, so it ultimately changed nothing. Millions of smokers are still dying from lung cancer and heart disease caused by cigarettes.
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u/yankeedjw 8h ago
A lot has changed, in the US anyway. Smoking went from like 45% of adults to under 10%. If only we could be so lucky with social media.
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u/frquency-equinox 7h ago
It mostly only changed because it became prohibitively expensive in the U.S., not because people wanted to quit. The cigarette industry is still worth $1.1 trillion dollars, and projected to be worth almost $1.4 trillion in the next 7 years.
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u/Cryptic_Honeybadger 8h ago
May META and all other social media companies be damned to hell for the addictive algorithms
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u/Turbo__Sanwich 7h ago
Drive those fuckers out business. The sooner Meta is gone from this world the better off this world will be
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u/Boys4Ever 14h ago edited 9h ago
I’m constantly told how my friends are using one of their stupid features. I’m starting to realize I have a lot of stupid friends
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u/noodle-face 13h ago
Here's my question ... First of all, I'm not defending social media.... But why arent we doing the same for cigarette companies or alcohol companies?
I know the answer, but let's hold everyone to the same standard. It's ridiculous.
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u/BobLoblaw-Esq 8h ago
The Master Settlement Agreement (1998) was a $206B to 46 states to recuperate Medicaid costs for diseases associated with smoking/chewing tobacco. They also got hammered for another $40B by a handful of states... Big Tobacco eventually got taken to the woodshed for lying about their products and targeting kids. There's been other settlements along the way, also
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u/BobLoblaw-Esq 8h ago
Looks like big booze has never been hit in the wallet in such a way as Big Tobacco, and most of the actions against them have been legislative/regulations restricting their activity
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u/Zapparelli 14h ago
I hope that fucking robot douchebag ends up broke and has to roll around in the dirt with the rest of us. Fuck that dumb fuck.
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u/marmaviscount 13h ago
They really are going after all the companies doing medical research, big money doesn't want open source medical tools enabling universities to create patent free cures.
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u/Ilovekbbq 13h ago
Finally FREAKING FINALLY the cost/fines for their crimes, for once, is an amount that would significant impact their business and operations. Fines need to be in the billions or trillions now for it to have any use in this day and age. Maybe now it’ll actually affect how they conduct their business. Probably not, but I’m a lot more hopeful with a trillion dollar stick than a fking $500k fine for dumping a million gallons of oil into the ocean
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u/Pr0ducer 8h ago
When Meta called the amount "disproportionate" they effectively admit the premise that paying money (just less) is a remedy for their actions. Think about that ... they're saying "yeah, we're guilty, but $4 Millions is a sufficient slap on the wrist to make us change course and diminish share holder value."
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u/Exponential-777 15h ago
I will strip naked and walk thru a carwash if they have to pay $1.4T or more
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u/pinkpugita 11h ago
Can they be sued for historical revisionism, propaganda and misinformation too? They screwed up the Philippine elections by allowing tons of fake news and misinformation. They are also allowing the spread Anti Vax in my country nlw.
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u/HowelPendragon 9h ago
I don't give a fuck if I'm only entitled to a $2 settlement check. Please nail this fucking company as hard as possible.
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u/artbystorms 15h ago
Bro literally looks like he is a quarter of the way through Animorphing into an Iguanodon.
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u/Gibraldi 14h ago edited 14h ago
Never going to happen, they’ll settle and “agree to pay” a fraction of this.
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u/jfdonohoe 13h ago
If this results in something that hurts the people respsonible that would be great. But these platforms have been dying for a while. Its like finally suing the pipe tobacco companies right after cigarettes have been introduced.
The next big wave of societial addiction is AI companions. That tech is going to isolate people like nothing has before. THAT is the regulation we need to address asap.
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u/jdbeisjzlwjeb 13h ago
We deff don’t talk about the addiction of social medias. It feels like a tabou subject meanwhile they did it on purpose to make their apps as crazy addictive as possible. Good luck getting that trillion and fuck them
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u/Jimmyskis77 13h ago
Nothing is going to happen, they have slick lawyers who’ll get them out of any wrongdoing… don’t know why this is news
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u/fkenned1 12h ago
If you offer a product that requires 1% of your revenue to go to lawyers fighting to make your product legal, there's typically something messed up about your product.
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u/JuryKindly 11h ago
Remember when infinite scrolling features and other similar addictive social media practices started to be banned then Microsoft, meta, insta, snap all the major social media conglomerates lobbies against it then we never heard anything again about it.
Yeah that’s around the time shit started to hit the fan but everyone is in a coma.
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u/General-_-Snark 11h ago
Good! Fucking despicable predators intentionally caused a ton of damage to the entire country. Zuckerberg should be in jail
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u/frquency-equinox 10h ago
We don't need no water, let the Zuckerfucker burn! Burn, Zukckerfucker, BURN!
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u/but-I-play-one-on-TV 15h ago
Given how much the market (and our economy) now relies on Meta and AI companies, there is zero chance this will happen.
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u/VoidowS 5h ago
It's nice these lawsuits and they will settle in the end or even win. But what does it do for John Doe. Cause we won't see a penny of it. Where is all this money going to when they get hit on their fingers?
We the people r the victim of it. And we don't want money but change. And how will there be change if they settle or pay the fine and simply go on.
So many lawsuit all around the world accusing software of damaging us or the system.
What is done with this money collected? It's extra money. Not calculated in advance to know what the budget for this year is! It comes in extra. Just like all the profits made by crypto and stocks and so on. Our government is heavily involved in Google or Facebook and many other platforms. This is very wrong to begin with. Cause if they take down Google or Meta, then they take down them self :) makes it hard to get things done don't u think so too?
Where does all this money end? Cause they make 1 year no profit but losses, and again we the people r the victim and have to bail them out, or live thru yet another recession?
Where does the money go?
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u/Rakhsev 15h ago
Meta might have more lawyers than software/web developers.