Americans lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, according to a new report from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency reports that losses from social media scams have increased eightfold and that social media scams resulted in higher losses than any other method scammers used to contact consumers. Nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to scams said the schemes began on social media. More people reported losing money to scams that originated on Facebook than on any other social media platform, with WhatsApp and Instagram ranking a distant second and third. Additionally, people reported losing far more money to scams on Facebook alone than they reported losing to text or email scams. The FTC's data shows that social media scams take many forms, including shopping scams, which were the most reported type of social media scam last year. Over 40% of people who lost money to social media scams said they ordered an item they saw in an ad, ranging from clothing and cosmetics to car parts and even puppies. Many of these ads led to unfamiliar websites, while others sent people to fake sites for well-known brands that claimed to offer big discounts....

After deliberating for nine days'and emerging at one point to tell the judge that it was having a difficult time reaching a decision'a jury in Los Angeles finally returned its verdict today, finding both Meta and Google liable for creating addictive products that caused a young woman's mental-health problems. The two companies were ordered to pay $3 million in compensatory damages: 70 percent by Meta and 30 percent by Google. (Meta-owned Instagram played a larger role in the complaint than Google-owned YouTube, which explains the split.) This is hardly any money to either of these companies'Meta alone brought in nearly $60 billion in revenue over the last three months of 2025. But the verdict will lead others to pursue similar cases against tech companies (thousands are already pending), and possibly result in changes to the design of social-media apps. Following the verdict's announcement, Matthew Bergman, one of the plaintiff's lawyers and the founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, sent a lengthy statement to reporters. 'This verdict carries implications far beyond this courtroom,' it read in part. 'It establishes a framework for how similar cases across the country will be evaluated and demonstrates that juries are willing to hold technology companies accountable when the evidence shows foreseeable harm.' A Meta spokesperson sent a shorter statement: 'We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options.' And the Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that Google will appeal the verdict, adding, 'This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.'...

Ready wrote that children today were 'living through the largest social experiment in history,' as they have been given 'unfiltered access to social media platforms.' Research shows the damage this unfiltered access has done, with today's youth seeing increased rates of depression, anxiety, and lower concentration skills. He said social media platforms gave 'insufficient forethought about the consequences' of what they could do to children, and praised Australia's social media ban for children, saying that 'if tech companies fail to prioritize youth safety, other governments should follow Australia's lead.' He pointed out the restrictions and guidelines industries like tobacco and alcohol have, writing that 'such policies can improve, and sometimes save lives.' He also said Pinterest has been successful with Gen Z, even after banning access to the site's social features to users under age 16. Aside from Australia, Malaysia, Spain, and Indonesia have all announced social media bans. The movement is sparking debate within the tech industry, but lawmakers have shown no sign of bowing to pressure. Legislators in France also just approved a ban for users under 15, while Germany's ruling party said it supported a form of social media ban, too. States throughout the U.S. are also looking at ways to restrict minors' access to social media....

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt presented a forceful analysis of the damage smartphones and social media are doing to our cognition, our civic fabric, and our children's wellbeing, while calling for renewed action to ward off their effects, in the latest of MIT's Compton Lectures on Wednesday. 'Around the world, people are getting diminished,' Haidt said. 'Less intelligent, less happy, less competent. And it's happening very fast ' My argument is that if we continue with current trends as AI is coming in, it's going to accelerate. The decline of humanity is going to accelerate.' Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business and the author of the recent bestseller 'The Anxious Generation,' which suggests that the widespread adoption of social media in the 2010s has been especially damaging to young women, making them prone to anxiety and depression. But as Haidt has continued to examine the effects of social media on society, he has started focusing on additional issues. Our inability to put our phones away, our compulsion to check social media, and the way we spend hours a day watching short-form videos, may be causing problems that go far beyond any rise in anxiety and depression....