Today's Poll Question: Do you agree with the verdict blaming Big Tech for social media addiction?

You're ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smirkconnish.com, but first Michael

explains it for you right here.

Welcome to the smirkconnish podcast from SiriusXM for independent minds.

Hello, hello gang, it is Thursday the 26th of March, 2026.

Here's your Thursday poll question at smirkconnish.com.

Do you agree with the California jury verdict blaming meta and YouTube for designing features

that cause mental health distress?

Landmark decision from a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday, as a matter of fact, I'm looking

at the front page of the New York Post, Metacolpa, big picture of Mark Zuckerberg, Metacolpa,

Instagram, YouTube, helped destroy teen girl's life, jury finds, opening floodgates for social

media lawsuits.

I've got lots of thoughts yesterday's result was agree or disagree.

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I was surprised by this 34,430 voted, 53.08% said, I agree.

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That was the predicate for going in, among other things, under hour or international control.

This is Mirkconnish podcast from Syria sex exam.

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Behind every healthcare statistic is a person's face, paying the price.

Big pharma just increased the prices of 350 drugs.

Hospital monopolies are marking up procedures by 300%.

The drug companies and hospitals set healthcare prices and they're too high.

America's health insurers are on the side of people working hard to negotiate costs down

and make healthcare work better for everyone.

We see more than numbers.

We see you.

So the Thursday poll question, do you agree with the California jury verdict blaming

meta and YouTube for designing features that caused mental health distress, date line

Los Angeles?

After more than eight days of deliberation to downtown LA jury on Wednesday found tech

giants meta and Google libel in a civil suit brought by a now 20 year old woman known

in court only as Kelly GM.

The 12 jurors also ordered the two companies to pay Kelly 3 million in damages, 70%

to be paid by meta, the parent of Instagram and Facebook, 30% to be paid by Google, which

operates YouTube.

The jury also awarded 3 mil in punitive damages, 2.1 million for meta and 900,000 for Google.

It's a huge story.

I pay close attention to this case.

It's the first of many.

There's a lot riding on this because the industry, meaning the tech industry and also potential

plaintiffs and cases already in suit, everybody looking at what would be the outcome of this

particular case.

My thought is that this is a combination of trend setting in California and also the value

of the plaintiffs bar.

California and I've made this observation on many, many occasions is a trend setter

culturally and politically California is the state that often gets derided because

oh my gosh, can you believe what they did in California?

Can you imagine they're eating organic food in California?

Can you believe that yoga and mindfulness are big in California?

Can you imagine that the summer of love is taking place in California?

Look at these kids on skateboards or surfboards skating, what am I trying to say?

Skateboarding and surfing, Van Halen, the Beach Boys, Hula Hoops, Plastic Bag Bands, I mean,

it all begins in California.

So how appropriate then that this case would have come from a Los Angeles courtroom.

The other thought that I have is that the often derided trial lawyers, the often

derided trial lawyers, again, did something here where Congress and regulators have failed.

And I could go through the whole litany, I probably will on radio today.

The whole litany of instances where there was a defective product and that's relevant

in this case because of the theory that was advanced against big tech.

But defective products which are in the marketplace and because of litigation, something changes.

The Ford Pinto, the 1971 model with a rear-mounted fuel tank known to ignite in crashes where executive

declined an $11 fix.

They did a cost-benefit analysis.

And that's what led to that entire debacle, Firestone Tires, Takata Airbags, Fen Fen Diet

drugs, how about the GM ignition switch and the way that a sleuthing trial lawyer and

his investigator put that together.

The common denominator is that when regulators and legislators fail to protect the public,

often the trial lawyers step in.

And I remember in this case, I remember talking in this case against Meta and Google,

the Wall Street Journal had an editorial that said something like, you know, the trial

lawyers, they never miss an opportunity, what did they say?

They called it a shake-down.

That's what it was.

Yeah, they dismissed this case as a, as a shake-down and said, oh, the trial lawyers,

they never failed in an opportunity to, you know, cash in on catastrophe.

Well, thank God they did something.

Maybe now Washington will wake up.

This were punished, podcast, from serious exam.

Behind every healthcare statistic is a person's face, paying the price.

Big pharma just increased the prices of 350 drugs.

Hospital monopolies are marking up procedures by 300%.

The drug companies and hospitals set healthcare prices, and they're too high.

America's health insurers are on the side of people, working hard to negotiate costs down

and make healthcare work better for everyone.

We see more than numbers.

We see you.

The Daily Poll Question at SpurConnish.com

A non-scientific, social political question designed to spark broader discussions about

current issues.

Get ready to cast your ballot and leave a rating and review of this podcast on your favorite

podcast app.

Well, thank God they did something.

Maybe now Washington will wake up in this situation and something else that I want to

say, and sorry if I'm on my high horse, but this is really an important case and a

lot of mingling ramifications, but it's also an opportunity to salute Gene Twangie.

Gene Twangie, the San Diego State psychologist who studies generational behavior, her book,

Igen, you know, one of those books that really, really made an impact on me.

She's the one who first put on people's radar screen that something had changed and she

zeroed in on 2012.

The very moment that smartphones became universal, the beginning of the selfie era, when Facebook

acquired Instagram, that was the moment she saw where mental health among our youth

went awry.

And initially she spoke in terms of correlation, but as data accumulated, her view shifted.

I saw her just last month in San Diego and I asked about this trial and she said, I really

can't get into it.

Or come on radio, she said, because I'm listed as an expert witness.

It's a big deal, Gerald Posner, who's been a guest on the program observed in his

sub-stack analysis that Big Tech has just had a big tobacco moment.

And I think it's appropriate, but I want to know what you think.

Do you agree with the California jury verdict blaming meta and YouTube for designing features

that cause mental health distress?

I said that there's a parallel here to the Ford Pinto and defective products.

And the reason is because it was a product liability theory that was advanced in this case.

Because Section 230 provides immunity for the content of that which comes across, you

know, an ethernet cable or actually doesn't have to come across an ethernet cable.

If via the internet is what I'm trying to say.

But in this particular case, the theory was that these products were defectively designed

with addictive qualities that were causing mental health distress.

And on that basis, they were successful.

So what the future holds, I don't know, but this is a biggie.

This is a biggie.

Or as the post says, Metacolpa, Metacolpa, Metacolpa, go vote at Spercotish.com on today's

poll question.

Anyway, please check out in second position, meaning, you know, there are 20 aggregated

links, but in second position in my newsletter, my thoughts of the day.

And today I weigh in on, on this case, more elaborately than I'm laying out for you

now on the poll podcast.

Okay.

So enjoy the newsletter.

Sign up for it.

If you're not already a newsletter subscriber, but look for that new feature, which is

me weighing in on the news of the day in written form.

Okay.

Thanks everybody.

Michael Smirconish for independent mind.

Listen weekdays on Sirius XM's POTUS, Channel 124, and anytime on the Sirius XM app.

Behind every healthcare statistic is a person's face, paying the price.

Big pharma just increased the prices of 350 drugs.

Hospital monopolies are marking up procedures by 300%.

The drug companies and hospitals set healthcare prices, and they're too high.

These health insurers are on the side of people working hard to negotiate costs down and

make healthcare work better for everyone.

We see more than numbers.

We see you.

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