Meta, Google and Apple confront escalating US legal setbacks

Big technology firms—including Meta, Google and Apple— dominate online advertising, data collection and social platforms, shaping brand strategies worldwide. Their control over algorithms, user attention and commerce channels makes them indispensable partners for marketers, while also creating dependency on their ecosystems.

In the United States, these companies are facing a wave of judicial rulings that could reshape that dominance. A New Mexico jury held Meta liable for failing to curb predators on its platforms, and a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube responsible for designing addictive features that harm young users. Parallel antitrust judgments have challenged Google’s market power. Legal experts compare the mounting pressures to the historic decline of the tobacco industry, suggesting that prolonged litigation could threaten the business models of major tech firms.

The combination of market influence and increasing regulatory scrutiny highlights the growing tension between the tech sector’s profitability and societal concerns over privacy, safety and competition.