If the Carney government was looking for a fool-proof roadmap on how to rein in large online platforms from knowingly causing harm to their users — including children — the recent judgments from California and New Mexico provide some excellent guidance.  

First, a jury in New Mexico found Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, liable for misleading its users when it comes to child safety and that Meta’s product design enabled the endangerment of children. The jury ordered Meta to pay the maximum penalty of $375 million for violating New Mexico’s consumer protection laws.

A day later, a jury in California found Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design of their platforms and, despite knowing their design was dangerous, both platforms failed to adequately warn users of those risks and caused substantial harm to the plaintiff who claimed the online giants intentionally addicted her to their platforms as a child, causing injury to her mental health. (The plaintiff also raised these concerns with respect to Snap and TikTok, but both platforms settled with the plaintiff before trial.)

Both Meta and YouTube have stated they will appeal the decisions, but things look kind of dicey at the moment for Meta in particular because of a judgment in Delaware that was handed down in February.

A Superior Court judge found that Meta’s insurance companies are not on the hook for the thousands of lawsuits that allege Meta’s platforms........

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