The Lawyer Holding Big Tech Accountable by ‘Beating the Tar Out of Them’ in Court
Mark Lanier led the first social media addiction case to go to trial, winning a verdict against Meta and Google in March. It’s just the beginning.
In a recent interview at the WIRED World Fair, Lanier, the lead attorney in the first social media addiction trial, emphasized the need for aggressive legal action to hold tech giants accountable. The verdict against Meta and Google in March awarded the plaintiff $6 million in damages, a symbolic victory given the companies' substantial financial resources.
However, Lanier believes that lawsuits brought by state attorneys general could lead to significant change. In a case that went to trial in August, attorneys general from multiple states, including Arkansas, accused Meta of neglecting to safeguard young social media users. Following a few days of proceedings, Meta settled for up to $16.7 billion, to be distributed among 51 US states and territories, and committed to implementing measures to regulate teenage usage of Instagram and Facebook, such as a default two-hour time limit.
While large corporations like Meta may view such settlements as the price of business, these legal battles also carry indirect consequences. They influence public perception of the platforms and can prompt employees to demand greater accountability from the companies.
Written by urgent.news from Wired's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
