Chapter 1: What are the latest developments in U.S.-Iran negotiations?
In a landmark verdict, Netta is found liable for allowing adults to prey on children. Plus, mediators push the U.S. and Iran to talk, though the sides remain far apart. The Iranians haven't responded.
There is no talks. There is no discussion. They haven't agreed to meet. And even they actually fear it could be a trap, that it could be just a proposal to ease all prices.
And China's Communist Party cracks down... on wine. It's Wednesday, March 25th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.
Meta has been found liable for failing to protect young people from a range of online dangers, including sexually explicit content, solicitation, and human trafficking. That was the conclusion of a New Mexico jury yesterday, a verdict partially read out here by Judge Brian Beechield.
On question one, did Meta violate the Unfair Practices Act by engaging in an unfair or deceptive trade practice? The jury answers yes. Question two. Did Meta act willfully by engaging in an unfair or deceptive trade practice? The answer is yes.
I asked journal tech reporter Sam Schechner to help untangle the verdict.
This is a case under state law, and the state is using its particular code to go after a company. But if you step back, what we see is a state presenting evidence that a company allegedly ignored warnings about the dangers on its platform. And that the state argues that its design features let pedophiles engage with children.
And what I think it shows is a new willingness by states, by courts, and now juries to hold social media companies responsible for what happens on their platforms. And that's a verdict and a trend that goes beyond even meta and beyond even social media.
You told me offline, Sam, that there's a bit of a split happening here. These social media companies are under pressure sort of globally right now. But how that is being pursued in the U.S. has some distinctly American features compared to what we're seeing elsewhere.
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Chapter 2: How did the jury rule in the Meta case regarding child safety?
That was Journal Tech reporter Sam Schechner in Paris. Sam, thanks as always. Thanks for having me. As Sam mentioned, a jury is currently deliberating a similar case in Los Angeles, in addition to more than 2,000 lawsuits pending in federal court. A Meta spokesman said the company disagrees with the verdict in New Mexico and plans to appeal.
As part of yesterday's verdict, Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in civil penalties. It made 160 times that amount of revenue in the most recent quarter. And if Meta has its way, it could be making substantially more money in the next five years.
The company is rolling out a new stock incentive program for top execs that could see some earn hundreds of millions of dollars if its market cap tops more than $9 trillion by 2031, a massive leap from its current $1.5 trillion.
Meta has leaned heavily on stock awards amid the AI race, with a journal analysis finding that cash costs tied directly to those awards consumed 96% of its free cash flow last year.
Shares in British semiconductor designer Arm Holdings have soared off hours after it announced plans to sell its own chips for the first time, putting it into direct competition with longtime customers like NVIDIA and Alphabet. The new chip has been developed with Meta for use in data centers, with OpenAI, SAP, and Cloudflare also signing on as customers.
Arm designs power nearly every smartphone and tablet. Meanwhile, South Korean chip giant SK Hynix is eyeing Wall Street. The company plans to list in the U.S. later this year, looking to tap into global cash to fuel its high-end AI chip production.
The exact size and timing of the listing is still under wraps, with SK Hynix saying it'll make a final decision on whether to list after the SEC's review and considering market conditions. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but the maker of a toothy elf named Labubu has seen its profits quadruple to nearly $2 billion after the toy became a global status symbol.
China's PopMart specializes in so-called blind boxes of collectible toys where you don't know which character is inside until you open it.
Let's do a Labubu unboxing. I really want the loved ones.
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Chapter 3: What implications does the Meta verdict have for social media companies?
Mediators from Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan are pushing to arrange a meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials tomorrow in the hopes of ending the war in the next 48 hours. But Benoit says that Gulf states are growing alarmed by Trump's eagerness to do a deal.
The U.S. is subject to push and pull pressure. So you have countries like Qatar, whose liquefied natural gas exports have been interrupted by the conflict. So it's catastrophic for them. But there are other countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates who feel that you can't really have an end to the war if Iran is not weakened militarily.
They don't want Iran to be able to attack its neighbors. So they want Iran disabled and they want the Strait of Hormuz reopened. Otherwise, they feel like it's going to really be a negotiation that effectively re-empower Iran and enable it to attack again.
The Pentagon is also planning to deploy around 3,000 American soldiers to the Middle East to support operations against Iran, though officials cautioned that a decision to put boots on the ground in Iran hasn't been made. A federal judge in California has said the U.S. government's move to ban Anthropic appeared to be a punishment for making its contract dispute with the Pentagon public. U.S.
District Judge Rita Lynn said that would be a violation of the First Amendment and that the Trump administration's actions didn't align with its stated national security concerns. Anthropic sued the U.S. government to halt its designation as a supply chain risk after the company took issue with the potential of its models being used for mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.
Lynn asked for more evidence before making her decision on Anthropic's request for an injunction. And U.S. lawmakers are expanding their scrutiny of private equity to include its influence over child care.
Yesterday, Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley announced an investigation into whether two firms are putting their own profits ahead of the safety and welfare of children at the facilities they control. Swiss firm Partners Group declined to comment, and New York-based American Securities didn't reply to a request for comment.
Federal lawmakers recently introduced bills aimed at curbing private equity's influence in a range of industries, including health care and housing. And finally, for years, a thirst for fine wine in China has been a boon for the world's top growing regions, with producers in California, Australia, and France in particular cashing in.
Even as there were fewer drinkers in many other parts of the world, Chinese people were getting wealthier, they were drinking more wine, and it looked very promising. You know, wine sales were just booming.
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