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Wait, just how addicted to Facebook and YouTube are Americans today?

While a jury found both Meta and Alphabet have designed addictive apps, usage among US adults has dropped off.

In what some are posing as the possible beginning of a “Big Tobacco” moment for Big Tech, a Los Angeles jury yesterday found social media titans Meta and YouTube liable for designing addictive products.

On Wednesday, jurors in a first-of-its-kind trial ruled that both companies deliberately engineered social media platforms with addictive features — like infinitely scrollable feeds, video autoplay, and algorithmic recommendations — and failed to provide adequate warnings about their potential dangers, thus posing harm to young people using the apps.

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The case’s 20-year-old plaintiff was awarded $6 million in damages, with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, ordered to pay 70% of the total, and YouTube, which is owned by Google, to fork out the rest. The ruling also came just one day after Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in New Mexico for its social media conduct, with Mark Zuckerberg’s company slumping as much as 7% today.

While the penalties are peanuts compared to the companies’ multibillion-dollar revenues, they could mark the start of a wave of litigation that trickles down to tighter social media regulations — and ultimately dents user engagement, the lifeblood of ad-powered, attention-based social media apps. Data from Pew Research Center, however, suggests a portion of US adults might already be using Facebook and YouTube less frequently.

YouTube and Facebook usage chart — Sherwood News

Looking at Pew’s social media survey results over the last few years, the share of Americans who report using the apps at the heart of the case every day has shrunk, with daily Facebook users down from 71% in 2021 to just 52% in 2025.

Even with roughly half of respondents saying they logged on to both Facebook and YouTube daily, the recent slump perhaps indicates that peak engagement for older Americans may have already passed — though the share of adults that say they ever use each platform remains strong.

Still, as signified by yesterday’s trial, “addictive” social media features are considered to have a greater impact on younger people, with the same survey finding that a whopping 95% of 18- to 29-year-olds reported ever using YouTube.

Rani Molla2h

The US leads the world in robotaxi deployments

Every day it seems another robotaxi launches somewhere in the world. But most of them are in the US.

Of the 171 active robotaxi deployments globally, 69 — or 40% — are in the US, according to a new report from the Bank of America Institute. China, the next largest market, accounts for 24% of deployments.

Most of those deployments are still in testing or early commercial stages. Only 10 US cities currently have fully commercial robotaxi operations, defined as services that operate on public roads, carry paying passengers, run fully driverless without a safety driver, and function all day in any weather.

For now, that effectively refers to Alphabet’s Waymo, which operates commercially in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, and the San Francisco Bay Area. That definition excludes competitors like Tesla, whose Robotaxi service uses safety monitors, and Amazon’s Zoox, which has yet to charge customers for rides.

Jon Keegan3h

Sen. Sanders and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez introduce data center moratorium bill

Tapping into the growing public pushback surrounding the data center construction boom, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, have announced The AI Data Center Moratorium Act of 2026. The bill calls for a halt to new data center construction until federal legislation regulating AI is enacted.

Lawmakers in at least 11 states have proposed pauses on data center construction, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In addition to halting new data center construction, the bill also calls for banning the export of advanced AI chips to countries that lack regulations that protect against harms from AI.

In a press release, Ocasio-Cortez said:

“Congress has a moral obligation to stand with the American people and stop the expansion of these data centers until we have a framework to adequately address the existential harm AI poses to our society. We must choose humanity over profit.”

Heading into the midterm elections, data centers are starting to emerge as a political issue following a growing list of projects that have been scuttled due to community opposition. President Trump has pushed AI companies to voluntarily pledge to “pay their way” for the massive energy requirements of data centers.

Sanders and AOC unveil data center moratorium bill

Lawmakers in at least 11 states have proposed pauses on data center construction, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In addition to halting new data center construction, the bill also calls for banning the export of advanced AI chips to countries that lack regulations that protect against harms from AI.

In a press release, Ocasio-Cortez said:

“Congress has a moral obligation to stand with the American people and stop the expansion of these data centers until we have a framework to adequately address the existential harm AI poses to our society. We must choose humanity over profit.”

Jon Keegan3h

RIP ChatGPT-XXX

OpenAI has shelved its planned ChatGPT “adult mode” indefinitely, according to a report from the Financial Times. The startup is in the midst of an internal effort to eliminate many of its “side quests” to focus on enterprise features like coding and productivity tools.

Earlier this week, the company announced it was killing one of those side quests: its video-generation app, Sora.

Per the report, investors and staff raised concerns that offering an erotica-generating AI model doesn’t exactly align with the company’s stated mission to “ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.”

As other tech companies deal with the legal consequences of failing to protect minors from their products, OpenAI would be choosing a potentially dangerous path with such an X-rated feature, while its main competitor, Anthropic, continues to make inroads among enterprise customers by improving on coding and spreadsheet skills.

OpenAI puts erotic chatbot plans on hold ‘indefinitely’

SpaceX Launches Classified Payload for NRO from Cape Canaveral, Florida

SpaceX isn’t just expensive — it’s in a different orbit

At a $1.75 trillion valuation, SpaceX would be valued at roughly 100x its 2025 revenue.

Rani Molla6h

Rani Molla3/25/26

Jury finds Meta and Google liable in social media addiction case

A Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google liable of designing Instagram and YouTube to be addictive for young users, awarding the plaintiff $3 million in damages, with Meta responsible for 70% of the total. The trial centered on whether features like autoplay and infinite scroll contributed to a plaintiff’s mental health issues — and could set a precedent for holding tech companies responsible for product design, not just content.

The jury also found that Meta and Google could face punitive damages, with a separate phase of the trial to determine how much they should pay.

The decision comes just one day after a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties, saying it violated state consumer protection laws by enabling child sexual exploitation.

Jury finds Meta and Google liable in social media addiction trial