Lately: Social media lawsuits, infinite scrolling violence and Napster’s return (kind of)

Welcome back to Lately, The Globe’s weekly tech newsletter. If you have feedback or just want to say hello to a real-life human, send me an e-mail. In this week’s issue: 🧑🏽‍⚖️ The year of social media lawsuits around child safety is here 📱 The infinite scroll of violence in Minneapolis 🚘 Toronto-based Waabi announces robotaxi fleet with Uber 🧟 A zombified Napster is back LAWSUITS Did social media companies design their platforms to be addictive? The courts will soon decide This week, the first trial began in a series of federal and state lawsuits across the United States, accusing social media companies of designing platforms that are intentionally addictive and cause harm to children. The trial, which opened Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, centres on a lawsuit brought by a 20-year-old California woman who says she became addicted to social media as a child, leading to anxiety, depression and body-image issues. The case initially named Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, though TikTok and Snapchat settled ahead of the trial. Plaintiffs argue that features such as infinite scroll, notifications and algorithmic recommendations are deliberately engineered to encourage compulsive use. Some experts have compared the cases to the Big
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