In the span of just 48 hours this week, two separate juries in two different US states delivered verdicts that could reshape the entire social media industry — not because of the dollar amounts involved, but because of what those verdicts legally establish for the first time. On Tuesday, March 24, a jury in Santa Fe, New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect children from sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. Less than 24 hours later, on Wednesday, March 25, a jury in Los Angeles found both Meta and Google (YouTube) liable for engineering addiction in young users — finding them negligent in the design of their platforms and awarding a further $6 million in damages. Two days. Two states. Two juries. Both pointing at the same conclusion: that Big Tech can no longer hide behind the legal shields it has relied on for nearly three decades. This is the story of what happened, why it matters far beyond the headline numbers, and what comes next for the s...
This is proof that the economy is showing signs of recovery. The two companies also struck a three-year agreement under which Monster will provide career and job content for the Internet giant's homepage in the U.S. and Canada. Under terms of that agreement, Monster will make payments to Yahoo, subject to annual floors and ceilings, based on the number of clicks and expressions of interest that Yahoo drives to the classifieds company. Yahoo last month agreed to sell email technology unit Zimbra, a start-up it acquired for $350 million little more than two years ago, to VMware Inc. (VMW). Terms of that deal weren't disclosed. Yahoo, which bought HotJobs in 2001 for $436 million, has also reportedly been shopping around its small business unit although no buyer has yet emerged. The HotJobs deal comes one week after Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz seemed to downplay the company's efforts to sell assets, adding that she was looking forward to making acquisitions and investme...