[Grombobulous]

I wonder if there’s a Betterridge’s Law of Headlines but for “could.”

I absolutely don’t think there’s any chance in hell that Meta incurs a $1.4 trillion judgement or settlement.

The tobacco settlement in 1998 was $206 billion, or $423 million after inflation adjustment.

[zerobees]

Meta revenues are significantly higher than the revenues of tobacco companies. Plus, the tobacco settlement was breaking new ground; here "you did this even though you knew what happened to tobacco companies" works to Meta's disadvantage.

On the flip side, what works to their advantage is that it's harder to put a dollar amount on the health burdens that Meta creates. By the time of the tobacco settlement, there was pretty robust evidence of the number of cancers and other disease caused by tobacco, and the lawsuits were supposed to recover healthcare costs.

[Grombobulous]

Yeah, on the flip side though, Meta’s product doesn’t directly kill you or cause cancer. From a cost recovery standpoint I’m not sure what they can go after.

[55555]

$423 billion*