Neal Freiman

You're not getting paid, but at least you have this two-hour-old soggy cheesesteak from Pat's

to eat, which is better than Geno's, by the way.

A little Philly lore for you there.

All right, this might sound crazy, but easily the life-size portrait of Dorian Gray hanging in my attic.

You see any wrinkles on this face?

They have a network of over 1 billion professionals and 130 million decision makers.

Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one.

Just go to LinkedIn.com slash MBD.

That's LinkedIn.com slash MBD.

Terms and conditions may apply.

Social media companies are under the same scrutiny the tobacco industry went through, and they're racking up L's in the courtroom.

Yesterday, a jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in a landmark social media trial for running platforms that harmed adolescents and failing to warn the public about the danger.

The two were ordered to pay $4.2 million and $1.8 million, respectively, in damages to a plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman who said her addiction to social media caused her mental health crisis.

The case took a novel legal approach, arguing that social media can cause personal injury, and after nine days of deliberations, the jury agreed.

The case brought out heavy hitters to the LA courtroom.

The five-week trial included testimonials from Metta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Aseri, head of Instagram.

Both execs rejected claims that Instagram could be described as clinically addictive, with Meta mounting a defense that the plaintiff, who goes by Kaylee, suffered from mental health issues from familial abuse and turmoil, not social media.

YouTube's defense was, we're not a social media company at all, and our features are not designed to be addictive.

But pointing to features like infinite scroll, algorithmic recommendations, and autoplay videos, the plaintiff argued the platforms were designed to entice and hook young people into compulsive use.

The verdict was handed down a day after a New Mexico jury in a separate case found Meta liable for failing to safeguard users from child predators.