What changed
Meta is pushing deeper into artificial intelligence even as its core products face growing legal and reputational pressure. At its annual product event, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the Muse AI assistant, smart glasses and a wearable AI device, while juries in New Mexico and California delivered costly setbacks over alleged harms linked to Meta’s platforms.
Why it matters
Meta’s problem is increasingly split in two.
Its public image is taking a battering. A New Mexico jury found that Meta failed to warn about dangers its platforms posed to children and imposed $942m in fines. In California, a jury awarded $6m to a woman who said Instagram and YouTube contributed to mental-health harms. Meta disputes both verdicts and is appealing.
But the business itself has not shown the same weakness. Use of Meta’s apps continues to rise, and people are already trying its new AI assistant. That gives Zuckerberg room to keep investing in products such as Muse, glasses and wearable devices while the legal fight plays out.
The uncomfortable lesson is that reputation and usage can move in opposite directions. Meta’s platforms may be widely criticised without becoming less useful, habitual or commercially powerful. Whether the lawsuits eventually change that balance remains unclear.
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