00:00So a federal trial, a jury trial, Balazs, what is the court tasked with examining and ultimately answering here?
00:08Well, it boils down to one thing, Vani, whether these algorithms were designed to get people, get children hooked on
00:15social media,
00:16whether they were designed to start some compulsive behavior.
00:21So this is different from the previous debates, which mostly looked at content.
00:24And ultimately, the courts found that that content was protected, so there was no recourse for the state over the
00:30content on these social media platforms.
00:32These are now coming at it from a consumer protection angle and trying to find whether the design of these
00:39algorithms have violated those state statutes on consumer protections.
00:45We're talking about the endless scroll. We're talking about the recommendations.
00:48They are trying to find whether there was anything untoward the way those were designed.
00:53There's a secondary question about data protection, which is a federal statute, whether these platforms that are meta handled minors'
01:02data without the consent of their parents,
01:05whether that ran afoul of some federal laws.
01:08So those are the two main things the court is going to be looking at in this one.
01:12It's going to be an incredible trial to follow and arguments that will, I'm sure, be just extraordinary.
01:19Now, we talk about the penalty being as much as potentially $1.4 trillion, but what would likely happen to
01:27meta if it were to be found liable or guilty or whatever the term would be here?
01:34Well, the $1.4 trillion is obviously an astronomical figure that comes right up to the market value of the
01:40company.
01:41Now, legal analysts that we talked to tell us that that is probably mostly for shock value to get people's
01:47attention and to show the symbolic nature of this trial.
01:51But it is based on some calculation of the number of people potentially harmed and putting a dollar value on
01:58each of them.
01:59But if they do have to, if they are found liable in this trial, then they, at the very least,
02:06will have to change the way they operate.
02:07They will have to change the algorithms.
02:09And that has wide-ranging consequences for the entire industry.
02:13Where the actual penalty might end up, that's very early to speculate.
02:18But certainly, that $1.4 trillion does grab people's attention.
02:21And just, Balazs, how long are we expecting this court case to last, roughly?
02:27At least a few weeks.
02:29There will be testimony.
02:30There will be deliberations.
02:31We will hear from several states.
02:34We will hear from Meta, of course.
02:35So, this will be a relatively lengthy trial.
02:39But, as you said, it's going to be fascinating to follow along.
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