What next after the social media addiction trial? With ScrollAware's Jess Butcher

In March, Meta and Google were found by a Los Angeles jury to have deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive in a way that was demonstrably harmful to a 20-year-old woman known as Kaley. TikTok and Snap were also previously defendants in the case before agreeing to a settlement ahead of trial. Meta and Google intend to appeal the decision. The news occurred as political leaders around the world, including here in the UK, have implemented or are considering implementing a ban on social media access for those under the age of 16. It also came after Meta lost a separate trial that found the tech giant misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and enabled harm, including child sexual exploitation. Meta has further come under scrutiny for admitting to earning billions in revenue from fraudulent ads. This confluence of events has led to a slow-motion reckoning for the advertising industry, which is responsible for providing ever-growing revenue to these Big Tech companies even as they are found by juries to be intentionally addicting users, leading to real world harms. Amid the public furore and continued legal backlash, how should business leaders in media and advertising react? Jess Butcher is the founder of ScrollAware, a not-for-profit aiming to convene business leaders to raise awareness of, and solutions to, online harms. Butcher, a former tech entrepreneur, sits down with host Jack Benjamin to consider the business community's response to the social media addiction trial verdict. **Highlights:**  **9:27:** The online safety debate: The harms of “ultraprocessed content” versus concerns of moral panic **22:35:** ScrollAware’s mission as a “convenor of conversation” about responsibility in the attention economy. **28:44:** Why brand managers feel “powerless” in challenging tech platforms – and why they shouldn’t **37:00:** The collective action problem in the long tail **41:17:** Policy changes to be considered **Related articles:** ‘Are we monetising addiction?’ Ad industry faces reckoning following social media addiction lawsuit verdict Government plans new powers to tackle online harms: ‘No platform gets a free pass’ Meta admits revenue from fraud and scam ads ‘might’ have accounted for 3-4% of total revenue Social media platforms linked to human trafficking, UN report finds Isba welcomes Government consultation on online harms: ‘Our hope is that enforcement will mean that more is done’