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...
YouTube has launched Moderator. Opening new avenues for channel owners to interact with their audience in a more direct manner. Up until now the only way people could interact with a channel was through the comments section and channel owners could not easily interact with their audience en-mass. Now channel owners can ask questions to their audience and poll votes. Giving them the next idea and clue as to what video to create and upload next. The audience can also submit their reviews and ideas to channel owners thus increasing communication between channel owners and their audience. Channel owners who spend time, money and energy creating videos are sure going to love this new feature as it brings about a more personal feel to the whole thing. Channels will begin to make more sense with this new feature. Gives those users who really have something good to say a chance to be heard and seen. Here's a video that shows you how this new feature works. [Image courtesy TechCrunch ] An...