The global push to rein in Big Tech

On March 25, 2026, Meta and YouTube lost a landmark lawsuit that accused the social media giants of deliberately engineering their platforms to make them hard to resist, thereby harming the plaintiff in the case, identified as K.G.M. The companies plan to appeal, but this benchmark case sets a precedent for thousands of other lawsuits in the U.S. which also target the design and operation of their platforms rather than the content. 

Other governments are also watching – and acting. Brazil recently introduced a child-safety law with restrictions on design practices that encourage compulsive screen use. Countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, and several states in India are passing laws to keep young users off the platforms.

After years of locking horns with Big Tech companies over disinformation and hate speech, governments are using legislation to deny them users in some of their biggest markets, even as digital rights groups caution that it could lead to more pervasive controls.   

“The era of Big Tech invincibility is over,” as one commenter observed.