The Truth is Out on Social Media

Blain’s Morning Porridge March 26th, 2026 – The Truth is Out on Social Media“Do no evil was the biggest lie ever heard in the valley.”Social media is deliberately addictive? Who knew? While markets barely reacted to yesterday’s Product-Liability award against Meta and Alphabet in California, the growing pushback against Big Tech will see valuation multiples diminish over the long run as increased regulation becomes inevitable. Perhaps it’s time to look at how Tobacco firms have evolved to understand the future value of Social Media parasites?Apologies to Morning Porridge readers, listeners and viewers for the last week of silence. I was on the slopes – catching a last Ski-trip of this season to Chamonix. 5 days of fantastic conditions and a wonderful time with great friends. I had intended to write about markets – but waking up to the view of the mountains? Poetry in motion, or bond prices? Go figure.We only get to live once – in an this increasingly fraxious, insane and unpredictable world…. who knows when or where I will ski next? On the mountains I am still in my twenties, dodgy-ticker and aching joints forgotten, addicted to my SkiTrax app…. Not the grey-haired old man who labours to write the Porridge each morning. (Sadly, I lost my notes when I left my iPad on the plane last night!! Darn!)As I step back to the desk this morning, there is no shortage of stuff to write about – I am already digging into the latest wobble in private credit, and who knows where Iran goes? (Nowhere good I expect.) A fuller analysis on where the World might be headed will follow tomorrow, but let’s start with yesterday’s Judder Moment for Google and Meta.The Tide is Changing on Social MediaWhat would happen to the global economy if we give every kid whose life has been “blighted” (in some form) by Social Media $3 mm in damages plus $30mm in punitive damages? The consequences would be phenomenal – and devastating. Who would bother seeking a job? What would it mean for global inflation? The industrialisation of the court systems with billions of cases to adjudicate?You can read the Morning Porridge by subscribing on ⁠www.morningporridge.com⁠, and have it delivered fresh to your inbox every morning!