The Slippery Slope of Social Media Liability

A Los Angeles jury has handed down a verdict stating that Meta and Google are held liable for a young woman’s psychological harm allegedly linked to social media use—along with a $6 million damages award. But what legal theory could possibly justify it? Richard Epstein dissects the case, from the limits of Section 230 to the growing push to impose liability on platforms for user behavior. Epstein explains why the ruling rests on shaky ground, how it collides with longstanding principles of tort law, and why—if upheld—it could expose tech companies to catastrophic, system-wide liability. The conversation ranges from contributory liability and First Amendment concerns to the deeper question: who is responsible when harm flows through a network? A sharp, fast-moving analysis of a case that could reshape the legal architecture of the internet.

You can listen to The Slippery Slope of Social Media Liability online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Slippery Slope of Social Media Liability is an episode from Libertarian by The Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

This episode is 23:12 long.

This episode was published on Mar 27, 2026.

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