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Trump’s Tech Lord Advisers Found Guilty in Addiction Trial

The president stacked his tech council with leaders from companies found liable in a landmark social media addiction case.

A California jury found Meta and YouTube liable for intentionally hooking a young woman on social media and causing her depression.

The tech titans behind the companies—Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin—were both announced on Wednesday as special advisers to President Donald Trump.

In the landmark decision, a jury found the tech giants were negligent in the design of their platforms, and knew they were dangerous but failed to warn users about the risks.

The case sets a precedent for hundreds of similar ones, and could result in major changes to social media platforms and how they operate, especially for young users.

But in a strange twist, the White House on Wednesday also announced the first members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

It includes both Zuckerberg, the president of Meta, and Brin, the co-founder of Google, which owns YouTube.

Perhaps a matter of unfortunate timing, but the two men will now be advising the president on challenges related to emerging technology, just as the companies they built are at a turning point and could stand to lose billions.

In the California case, a woman named Kaley, now 20, and her mother accused Meta, YouTube, Snap, and TikTok of intentionally addicting her to social media and causing her anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts.

Both Snap and TikTok settled the case before it went to trial but Meta and YouTube did not.

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On Wednesday, the jury ordered the two companies to pay $3 million in compensatory damages after a seven-week trial in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The jury reached its verdict after eight days of deliberation, CNN reported on Wednesday. The jury will also have to decide on punitive damages.

The jury found that Meta bears 70 percent of the responsibility for the harm caused, while YouTube was found liable for 30 percent of the damages.

A spokesperson for Google told the Daily Beast it would appeal the verdict. Meta is also considering its options.

“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options,” a Meta spokesperson told the Daily Beast.

It also came one day after Meta was found liable for knowingly misleading teens about the dangers of Facebook and Instagram in a separate New Mexico trial, and a jury ordered the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties after just one day of deliberations.

Now the men behind the two companies will be working with the Trump administration “ensuring all Americans thrive in the Golden Age of Innovation,” as the White House announcement put it.

The Daily Beast asked the White House if there was concern about the men giving advice on the council or if their appointments were being reconsidered in light of the verdict.

The new council has 24 members, and additional members could be appointed in the future. White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks and White House tech adviser Michael Kratsios are serving as co-chairs.

Some of the others named to the advisory board in Wednesday’s announcement included investor Marc Andreessen, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Dell CEO Michael Dell, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Lisa Su of AMD.

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Sarah Ewall-WicePolitical Reporter

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