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The chief executive of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg. A jury in the US state of New Mexico ordered Meta to pay US$375 million ($642m) for violations of the state’s consumer protection laws. Photo / Getty Images

'Historic moment': Researcher unpacks implications of Meta, Google court case

Author: Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2026, 7:05pm

A Los Angeles jury recently found Meta and Google guilty of designing harmful social media platforms that encourage addictive behaviour in users.

The jury found Meta liable for $4.2 million in damages and Google for $1.8 million, and it's expected this case will inspire similar legal cases.

Senior public health researcher at UOA, Dr Samantha Marsh, says this is a historic moment for social media.

"This is the first time that they've actually been taken to court, they've been found liable for their product. Up until now, it's just been about what people post on their platforms and they can't be held responsible for that. But this kind of changes everything."

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