The walls are closing in on Mark Zuckerberg

March 26, 2026 — 12:07pm

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It took nine days of deliberation, 43 hours of argument among jurors, and a seven-week trial that saw the Meta chief executive dragged to the stand in Los Angeles, but the verdict that landed overnight is one Silicon Valley has been dreading for years.

A California jury found Meta and Google liable for designing addictive products that caused a young woman’s mental health problems, ordering $US6 million ($8.6 million) in combined damages.

The dollar figure is negligible for a company that pulled in nearly $US60 billion in revenue in the last quarter of 2025 alone. But the number isn’t the point.

The walls aren’t just closing in on Mark Zuckerberg. They’re already here.

For years, Washington hearings were the executive’s main accountability stage, full of hostile soundbites and viral clips. That era looks over. We’ve moved to the courtroom.

Meta suffered two jury verdicts against it in 48 hours. On Tuesday, a New Mexico jury hit the company with $US375 million in civil penalties after finding it violated state consumer protection laws, misled users about the safety of its platforms, and enabled child........

© The Age