Offline with Jon Favreau Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment
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Apr 4, 2026 
Raúl Torrez, New Mexico Attorney General who led a sting that exposed predatory Instagram behavior. Casey Newton, tech journalist and Platformer founder who investigates social platforms. They discuss lawsuits holding platforms accountable, internal research likened to Big Tobacco, design features like infinite scroll and autoplay, age verification, encryption tradeoffs, and how state cases could reshape national tech policy.
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Kaylee's Lawsuit Turned Personal Harm Into Legal Liability
- Kaylee, on YouTube at six and Instagram by nine, spent up to 16 hours a day and developed depression and self-harm behaviors.
- Her lawsuit led an LA jury to find Meta and YouTube negligent and a substantial factor in her harm.
Verdicts Open Floodgate Of Design-Focused Litigation
- The verdicts remove a legal shield for product design harms and open thousands of similar suits.
- About 2,000 pending lawsuits and a federal case with 1,600 plaintiffs will now move forward, raising systemic exposure beyond fines.
Undercover Profile Exposed Predators And Meta's Response
- New Mexico's undercover profile of a 13-year-old was immediately flooded with predatory messages.
- Meta even sent the fake account tips on monetization instead of flagging predators, prompting an AG suit and arrests.