Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment

Mark Zuckerberg is finally being held accountable–not by government regulators, board members or shareholders, but by two lawsuits. Tech journalist Casey Newtown, editor of Platformer, joins Offline to explain how a young woman in California beat Meta and Google on the grounds that Instagram and YouTube had destroyed her mental health. Jon and Casey discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the case, whether losing end-to-end encryption could lead to a surveillance state, and what happens if social platforms’ defensive shield, Section 230, is overturned. Then Jon speaks to New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez about his successful lawsuit against Meta, how the social media company plans to appeal it, and whether the case he’s made could ultimately lead the Supreme Court to regulate this 21st century addiction.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.