Shannon Bond
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Podcast Appearances
He's wary of courts or regulators getting involved in these design decisions.
Yeah, because there are so many.
These cases have been combined into two big buckets, one in state court here in California, one in federal court.
And depending how juries decide a handful of initial cases, including this one starting in L.A.,
The parties could enter settlement talks that involve all of the plaintiffs.
You know, and eventually this could wind up similar to landmark settlements reached with the opioid manufacturers and tobacco companies, which led those industries to pay out billions of dollars to victims.
That's certainly what the plaintiffs are hoping for.
The case is among a wave of lawsuits accusing Snapchat, Meta, TikTok, and YouTube of designing their products in ways that hurt young users.
They claim features like infinite scroll, autoplay videos, and recommendation algorithms make apps addictive and lead to depression, eating disorders, and other harms.
Snapchat settlement comes a week before the first trial is set to begin in Los Angeles.
Terms, including financial value, were not disclosed.
Snap said in a statement, quote, the parties are pleased to have been able to resolve this matter in an amicable manner.
No settlements have been reached with the other tech companies named in the suit.
Education Department staff say they were surprised to find their out-of-office messages changed without their consent to partisan rhetoric blaming Democrats.
The lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees argues that violates the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from compelling speech.
Since the shutdown began, federal agencies have posted similar partisan messages on their websites and in emails.
Legal experts say the Trump administration's use of official communications to hold congressional Democrats responsible for the shutdown may violate federal ethics laws.
The Education Department replied to NPR's request for comment with the same out-of-office message.