Happy Thursday !

This week’s world-famous news haiku competition™ is about how JP Morgan is monitoring its junior bankers’ working hours with tech. Send me your entry — to haiku at cheddar dot com — by noon ET today, for consideration by your Cheddar peers.

And now for some news you really N2K!

Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

• Jury finds Meta, YouTube liable for teen addiction

• SCOTUS sides with Cox Communications over Sony in …

• Why is Open AI shutting down Sora?

• Democrat flips Mar-A-Lago seat in upset win

• New poll: It’s a bad time to look for a new job

What’s the stock market up to, eh?*

$SPX ( ▲ 0.54% ) $DJI ( ▲ 0.66% ) $NDX ( ▲ 0.77% )  

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$META ( ▲ 0.33% )  $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.17% )  $COXCF ( 0.0% )  $SONY ( ▼ 0.15% )  

Jury finds Meta, YouTube liable for teen addiction

A California jury ruled that Meta $META ( ▲ 0.33% ) and YouTube $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.17% ) harmed a young user through addictive app design features, marking a potential turning point for the tech industry.

The jury ordered $3 million in compensatory damages — with Meta responsible for 70% — after finding that features like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations led to anxiety and depression in plaintiff “K.G.M.,” now 20 years old. The jury will next consider punitive damages.

Kinda makes me want to sue them, too, come to think of it.

"This is the first time in history a jury has heard testimony by executives and seen internal documents that we believe prove these companies chose profits over children," said Joseph VanZandt, one of K.G.M.'s attorneys.

Legal experts see the verdict as groundbreaking. "This is a breakthrough because it validates a new theory that platform design can be a defective product," noted Kimberly Pallen, a litigation partner at Withers.

Meta stated it "respectfully disagrees with the verdict" and is "evaluating legal options." YouTube did not respond to comment requests. TikTok and Snap settled before trial.

The case echoes the Big Tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s. Clay Calvert of the American Enterprise Institute told the New York Times: "If there are a series of verdicts for plaintiffs, it will force the defendants to reconsider how they design social media platforms."

With thousands more lawsuits pending, it’s quite exciting, really.

Song of the Day: Lizzo, ‘Don’t Make Me Love U’

Here’s a great track from Lizzo’s new album, blending '80s synth-rock and soul with personal themes of growth and boundaries. While critics have praised its anthemic quality and powerful vocals, Lizzo says the song is about trying to get un-cancelled after a few of her dancers sued her for fat-shaming and sexual harassmemt, allegations she vehemently denies. her fickle “relationship with the public.” “Don't build this false sense of security and community if you're just gonna throw me away,” she told Kelly Clarkson recently. “It's so toxic. So tonight, you either love me or leave me, because I'm not wasting my time; no more trying to gain nobody's approval." Especially not those backup dancers.

SCOTUS sides with Cox Communications over Sony in music piracy clash

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that internet providers cannot be held liable simply for knowing their customers pirate music. The unanimous decision resolves Cox Communications' $COXCF ( 0.0% ) long-running battle with music labels including $SONY ( ▼ 0.15% ) who sued in 2018, seeking over $1 billion in damages. The labels argued Cox should have terminated subscribers repeatedly flagged for illegally downloading copyrighted songs.

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the court, established that providers are liable "only if it intended that the provided service be used for infringement" and "actively encourages infringement." Simply providing service "with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights" isn't enough.

Cox celebrated the ruling. "This opinion affirms that internet service providers are not copyright police and should not be held liable for the actions of their customers," the company said, calling it a "decisive victory" for Americans who "depend on reliable internet service."

However, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Jackson, wrote separately with concerns. She warned the decision means companies "no longer face any realistic probability" of liability "regardless of whether they take steps to address infringement on their networks."

The case had alarmed free speech advocates worried about chilling effects if providers faced massive penalties for user behavior — potentially forcing disconnection of hospitals and universities over individual violations.

Why is Open AI shutting down Sora?

Just two years after dazzling the world with high-quality AI video generation, OpenAI has pulled the plug on Sora. Three months after securing a landmark $1 billion Disney $DIS ( ▼ 0.46% ) deal, the tool is gone. It's all about the money, apparently.

Creating AI-generated video is exponentially more expensive than processing text queries. While OpenAI projects tripling its $13 billion revenue from last year, the company plans to spend over $100 billion in the next four years. Something had to give.

"We're saying goodbye to Sora," the team wrote on social media. "What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing."

Evidently it didn’t matter that much, though, eh? The abruptness was striking; OpenAI published a blog post about safely creating Sora content just a day before announcing its closure.

Competition to be profitable in the AI space is heating up. Anthropic's revenue is growing faster thanks to corporate adoption. Google $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.17% ) remains committed to its rival tool, Nano Banana (which your Chedditor loves, for obvious reasons), with deep pockets backing Gemini's rapid advancement. Meta just introduced an ambitious executive compensation plan tied to reaching a $9-trillion market value, betting heavily on AI's future. With a potential IPO looming, OpenAI is prioritizing “resource preservation,” which I thought was an oxymoron in the AI space. Sora joins other discontinued projects like ChatGPT's direct shopping feature nobody used.

Disney, meanwhile, says it will "continue to engage with AI platforms," just not this one, for obvious reasons.

Quote of the Day

Democrat flips Mar-A-Lago seat in upset win

In a result sending shockwaves through both major political parties, Democrat Emily Gregory won the Florida state legislature seat representing Palm Beach — home to President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Gregory, a small-business owner, defeated Jon Maples, the Republican candidate Trump enthusiastically endorsed just a day before the vote. The district backed Trump by 11 points in 2024, making this flip particularly notable.

What drove the upset? Gregory focused relentlessly on so-called “kitchen-table issues”.

"I focused more on the voters in District 87," Gregory told MS Now. "What all of us will do better with lower property insurance, with expanded healthcare and with strong public schools."

When asked about representing President Trump, she was notably unbothered: "He's one of 115,000 registered voters in District 87,” she said. 

The numbers tell a troubling story for Republicans. Trump's approval sits at 41%, with 56% disapproving — his worst deficit so far. Florida gas prices have surged from $2.86 to $3.92 per gallon amid the Iran war.

DNC Chair Ken Martin seized on the moment on X (see above): "If Democrats can win in Trump's backyard, we sure as hell can win anywhere across the country. Onward to November!”

With midterms approaching, Need2Know readers are also motivated to express your opinions at the ballot box, according to this poll we ran on Mar 12. We asked: How motivated are you to vote in the 2026 midterms?

You answered:

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ It's just a midterm. I'm not, like, chomping at the bit, or anything. (89)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I'm motivated. I have strong feelings I'd like to express at the ballot box. (246)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 It would be impossible for me to be more motivated to vote in the 2026 midterms. I'm so motivated I make a drill instructor look like a slacker. Let me vote, gosh darn it! Let me vote already! (612)
947 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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New poll: It’s a bad time to look for a new job

A striking disconnect has emerged in the U.S. labor market: Unemployment remains low, yet nearly three-quarters of American workers say now is a bad time to find a quality job.

According to a new Gallup survey, just 28% of workers view the job market positively — a dramatic reversal from mid-2022, when 70% felt optimistic. The shift happened fast: as recently as late 2024, nearly half of workers still saw opportunity.

Companies are keeping existing workers but barely hiring new ones. The Labor Department's figures on hiring rates dropped to 3.2% last November — the lowest since March 2013, when unemployment was 7.5%. Today it's much lower, yet finding work feels just as hard. For the first time since early pandemic recovery, more people are unemployed (7.4 million) than jobs available (6.9 million).

College graduates are hurting most. Only 19% think it's a good time to job hunt, compared to 35% of workers without degrees. White-collar hiring in software, advertising, and customer service has been especially weak. Younger workers feel trapped. Just 2 in 10 workers ages 18–34 are optimistic, while older workers (secure in their positions) feel more confident.

The survey was conducted before the Iran war, too. I wonder what it’d be like if they conducted it today.

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👍️ 

Sure. I mean, markets went up yesterday, but they went down a lot before that. Brace yourself.

Poll of the day: Glorified grift machine?

Poll of the day: Tell me how you really feel…

We asked: “Have you, as an investor, benefited from the Tehran Taco Trade?”

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Sure. I was one of the insiders who placed a bet shorting oil prices just minutes before the president announced talks with Iran. I'll share my email with you, too, and you can send it to the New York Times. (27)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ If by "benefited" you mean "got absolutely roasted by," then yes. I've seen my 401k plummet and am yet to see any potential upside from this situation. (120)
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ I try not to check my 401(k) during moments like this, and regretfully I've noticed that moments like this seem to be more frequent lately. (182)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Even thinking about this subject makes me want to throw up. (201)
530 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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