TWiT 1077: I Would Download a Car - New Jury Ruling Could Reshape Social Media Liability

About this episode

The episode discusses recent legal challenges faced by Big Tech regarding social media addiction and its implications for liability and privacy.

Big Tech just faced a courtroom reckoning, with Meta and Google found liable for platform "addictiveness" in a social media trial that could unleash a tidal wave of lawsuits. Find out why attorneys, entrepreneurs, and everyday users are suddenly on edge. • Social media addiction lawsuits hit Meta, Google, YouTube • Section 230 and First Amendment implications debated after court verdicts • Supreme Court sides with Cox; ISPs not liable for user piracy • Elon Musk's lawsuit over X (Twitter) ad boycotts thrown out • Anthropic versus Department of Defense: AI contracting dispute and retaliation claims • FCC's confusing foreign-made router ban and consumer tech fallout • Major supply chain attack: LiteLLM malware infects AI devs • The rise (and risks) of AI agents with voice, identity, and personification • Turing Award honors pioneers of quantum cryptography • Antimatter on the move: CERN's oddball truck experiment • Sci-fi and reality blur as Neal Stephenson walks away from the metaverse • Privacy and consent worries escalate with AI-powered recordings and surveillance • Digital shelf pricing arrives at Walmart and Kroger • Flipper Zero: voice-controlled hacking gadget gets an AI…

People in this episode

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Harper Reed, Brian McCullough, Cathy Gellis

Topics covered

• social media liability
• Big Tech lawsuits
• AI technology
• privacy concerns
• digital security
• supply chain attacks
• quantum cryptography

Keywords

• social media addiction
• lawsuits
• Section 230
• AI agents
• privacy
• digital shelf pricing
• supply chain attack
• quantum cryptography

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Meta, Google, YouTube, Cox, Elon Musk, Department of Defense, FCC, Walmart, Kroger, CERN

More episodes of This Week in Tech (Video)

• TWiT 1087: Evil is the Root of All Money - Could Local AI Laptops Compete With Data Center Giants? · June 8, 2026 · 2h 44m
• TWiT 1086: The Great Beagle Migration - Pope Leo XIV's 1st Encyclical & Ferrari's 1st EV · May 31, 2026 · 2h 59m
• TWiT 1085: Waiting In Line With Sam - Musk vs. Altman: Behind the Scenes · May 25, 2026 · 2h 54m
• TWiT 1084: Don't Overcook the Asparagus - US Tech Titans vs. China's Rising Innovators · May 18, 2026 · 2h 58m
• TWiT 1083: A Whole Separate Class of Squiggles - Which Religion Does AI Identify With? · May 10, 2026 · 2h 11m
• TWiT 1082: Hanging by a Thread - Are We Headed for a Tech Crash or a Golden Age? · May 4, 2026 · 3h 10m