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...
As Santa nears North America Norad will be tracking his progress. The North American Aerospace Defense follows Santa each year. Using Radar and other technology to track his progress and report it on the world wide web. This year they can also check out Santa's village and see how well the elves are getting on with making presents. Norad volunteers are on hand on Christmas Eve to answer e-mails about Father Christmas's journey at noradtrackssanta@gmail.com. Norad is a military organisation that is responsible for the aerospace and maritime defence of the US and Canada. The tradition of tracking Father Christmas goes back to a misprint in a Colorado newspaper advertisement in 1955. The hotline to Santa promised by the paper actually connected to what was known then as the Continental Air Defense Command (Conad). As more phone calls came in, the commander on the other end of the phone started to pretend he was Santa and the tradition continued in 1958 when Conad became Norad. ...