Ever notice that the company whose entire business model depends on you never putting your phone down is now in court defending itself for... making you never put your phone down?
Meta is on trial in Los Angeles. Not for a data breach. Not for a hack. For allegedly engineering their platforms to be as addictive as possible, specifically targeting kids.
And here's what nobody's talking about: this isn't a bug. The engagement algorithms, the infinite scroll, the dopamine loops, the notification design. That was the product. You were never the customer. You were the inventory.
The trial is exposing internal documents that suggest they knew. They measured it. They optimized it anyway.
So the next time a 14 year old can't put their phone down at dinner, just remember. That's not a parenting failure. That might be an engineering success.
Follow for more of what the tech giants hope you're too distracted to notice.
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Ever notice that the two biggest platforms your kids are addicted to right now are literally on trial for engineering that same addiction? Here's what just happened. The jury in the landmark Metta and YouTube child addiction trial in Los Angeles sent the judge a note this week. They're deadlocked, can't agree on one of the defendants. So the judge reads them a, you better figure it out admonition.
That's legal speak for go back in there and try again. Now, here's why this matters to every parent watching this. Over 2000 other lawsuits are sitting in a holding pattern waiting on this verdict. This is the Bellwether case, meaning whatever happens in that Los Angeles courtroom sets the tone for everything else. The plaintiff's lawyers literally used Big Tobacco's playbook. The same argument.
You knew it was harmful. You sold it anyway. You hooked kids on purpose. And on day seven of deliberations, the jury was already asking the judge about damages. Not if. How much? One jury. One trial. Potentially billions on the line. And the fate of how tech companies treat your children online for the next decade. So, yeah, it's worth paying attention to.
Follow Cybercrime Junkies for the verdict when it drops. This one is going to be loud.