A public reckoning has arrived for big tech with two US juries finding they were liable for products that inflict harm on young people. A jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375m in damages on Tuesday over claims that its products led to child sexual exploitation, among other harms. The following day, a jury in California ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $6m over claims that both companies deliberately designed addictive products to hook young users.
These cases were the first to go to court and soon will be followed by more trials from two coordinated groups of more than 2,000 plaintiffs, including families, school districts and state attorneys general, who have brought lawsuits against Meta, parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok and Snap and Google, owner of YouTube,
‘With two unprecedented trial defeats, big tech firms face crisis akin to that faced by cigarette makers in the 1990s.’
All of the relevant charts look to be facing major challenges ahead.
Meta, 28 October 2021, has a Scorpio Sun at 5 degrees square Saturn at 7 degrees which will be forced into a painful three year period of having to leave old practices behind with tr Pluto square the Sun this year and next; and then conjunct Saturn in 2027/28. 2028 also has a car-crash Solar Arc Mars conjunct Sun.
The Facebook IPO, 18 May 2012 11.31 am New York, looks seriously rattled now with tr Uranus conjunct the Sun and nerve-stretched from June onwards with tranches of unwanted publicity as tr Uranus starts to square the Neptune and then the opposition to Mars, running on for several years. The Solar Arc Saturn is opposition the Midheaven at the moment as it is pulled up short and tr Pluto will take up the cudgels through 2027/2028 forcing a change of direction. With a moving yod of the natal Mars sextile Solar Arc Saturn inconjunct Uranus – so paralysed at what will be a game-changing period.
Mark Zuckerburg, 14 May 1984 2.39 pm White Plains, New York, will feel as if he has been holed below the waterline with his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his 4th house Neptune later this year and through 2027, giving him an unaccustomed sense of panicky failure. 2027 looks high uncertain and consumed with anxiety as his SA Neptune squares his Saturn; and 2028 will seem him in a total upheaval as his SA Pluto is conjunct his Uranus.
Google, owner of Youtube, 4 September 1998, was facing an upset from the recent Aquarius Solar Eclipse opposing its Venus with Solar Arc Neptune approaching the opposition to its financial Venus as well within months. It will feel the cold winds of hardship and deprivation from tr Pluto square its Saturn, especially August to December this year; as well as a major upheaval from August on and off into 2027 from tr Uranus opposition its Pluto.
Youtube, 14 February 2005, is in no better shape with a panicky/high anxiety Solar Arc Neptune conjunct Uranus now; the recent Eclipse conjunct its late Aquarius Sun Mercury for a crisis and forced changes. 2027 will have the panicky-failure tr Neptune square its Mars with a jolting tr Uranus square Uranus – and a hugely uncertain 2029 with SA Saturn opposition Neptune.
My goodness, it is not often that all the related charts are so starkly clear that a watershed moment has arrived. The new era is finally beginning to make its mark.
The post Big tech – a watershed moment all round first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
