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Social media on trial as $200bn case against Facebook and Instagram begins
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In 1994, more than 40 US states came together to sue one of the most powerful industries on Earth: big tobacco.
Key facts
- But in the course of proceedings, the government’s original monetary demand was modified to less than 5% of the original amount, $14bn, to be paid over 10 years
- Thirty years later, although smoking continues its long-term decline in the developed world, Philip Morris’s revenues are at roughly $40bn a year, less than they were 20 years ago, but not by much
- The US government sought $289bn from major tobacco companies, including Philip Morris, in one of its landmark cases, which was prosecuted under a US anti-racketeering statute
- In 1994, more than 40 US states came together to sue one of the most powerful industries on Earth: big tobacco
Summary
The suits brought together diverse claims centred on tobacco companies’ misleading advertising and contribution to a mounting public health crisis. Thirty years later, smoking is on the rise in the developing world, the companies involved remain profitable and the global tobacco market is worth nearly $1tn. On Tuesday a major trial against Meta began, in which 29 states have brought the claim that the parent of Facebook and Instagram designed a deliberately addictive product and targeted it at children. That trial follows a bellwether case earlier this year, in which a Los Angeles jury found the social media company, and YouTube, its co-defendant, liable for deliberately designing an addictive product that had deleterious effects on the mental health of a single young claimant.