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Ruling that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products marks possible watershed moment for social mediaThe young woman at the heart of what has been called the tech industry's “big tobacco” moment was on YouTube at six and Instagram by nine. More than a decade later, she says, she still can't live without the social media she became addicted to.“I can't, it's too hard to be without it,” Kaley, now 20, told a jury at Los Angeles' superior court. This week, five men and seven women handed down a verdict on the design of two of the world's most popular apps that vindicated Kaley's position. Continue reading......

Jerry Murrell seemingly alluded to healthcare CEO killing when he explained giving bonus to workers after bungled promotionSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxFive Guys' chief executive officer, Jerry Murrell, said he gave a $1.5m bonus to employees of his US-based burger restaurant chain because “I didn't want anybody shooting me” after the company recently “screwed … up” a buy-one-get-one-free promotion.Murrell did not elaborate on the comment, which he gave to Fortune in an interview published on Wednesday – but it came a little more than a year after the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on a midtown Manhattan street in what was widely considered a murderous rebuke of the US health insurance industry's profit-driven practices. Continue reading......

Two court cases have shown how companies can be forced to take responsibility for their impact on public healthDebate about online harms has tended to focus on abusive and hateful content. But the form in which content is delivered is at least as important. That point is central to this week's momentous decisions against Meta and YouTube, by two US juries. It will take more than these cases to loosen big tech's tight grip on much of the world's attention. But the fact that both companies were found liable in California, for deliberately designing addictive products that harmed a child, is a massive win for the coalition of campaigners aiming to use the US courts to force the platforms to change their products.The second case against Meta, in New Mexico, found it liable over the use of Facebook and Instagram for child sex trafficking, with a Guardian investigation cited in the complaint. The jury ordered it to pay $375m in civil liabilities; the state's attorney general is seeking platform changes and ...

Updated prices of PlayStation 5 consoles to go into effect on 2 April as electronics makers face rising cost pressuresSony is raising global prices of its PlayStation 5 consoles, including a $100 increase in the US, marking its second hike in less than a year as the entertainment giant grapples with rising costs of key components such as memory chips.The tech industry's race to build out artificial intelligence infrastructure has pushed memory makers to favor higher-margin datacenter chips, tightening supply for consumer devices like the ones Sony sells. Continue reading......

Farmers need fuel to keep water pumps running, but many petrol stations are empty and fears are now growing over the war's impact on cost of fertiliserFollow our live coverage of the events in the Middle East hereThanadet Traiyot waited in line for hours at his local gas station, armed with containers and desperately hoping to secure much-needed diesel for his rice fields in Ayutthaya, central Thailand. He was third in the queue when the shop announced their supplies had run dry. That was five days ago; he still hasn't managed to restock to his normal levels.Back on his farm, Thanadet wades into his rice paddies, weaving past tall green stalks to assess the water levels and decide which of his water pumps can be turned off. Water needs to be spread equally across the fields, he says, but he doesn't have enough diesel to keep everything running. Continue reading......

Law firm is preparing claim on behalf of 30,000 consumers who fear the FCA's redress scheme will shortchange themLloyds Banking Group is facing a court battle with 30,000 aggrieved car loan customers who are set to abandon the City regulator's official redress scheme amid fears it will shortchange consumers and favour lenders.The claims law firm Courmacs Legal is planning to file a £66m omnibus claim on behalf of borrowers who believe they were financially harmed by car loan contracts set up by Lloyds' motor finance arm, Blackhorse. Continue reading......

US consumer expectations match economic calculations that show conflict in Iran will cause higher inflationThe US stock market opened on Friday with a selloff that briefly sent the Dow into correction territory as a new survey showed US consumer sentiment plummeted in March.Within an hour into trading on Friday, the Dow fell more than 400 points, briefly pushing the index into correction territory. Oil prices continued to climb, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, hitting $110 a gallon. Continue reading......

Yields on 10-year debt reach highest since the 2008 financial crisis, raising concerns of faster interest rate risesUK government borrowing costs have risen above 5% amid an intensifying global bond market sell-off fuelled by the Iran war.The yield – or interest rate – on 10-year debt hit its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, rising 13 basis points to 5.081%, as investors acted on concerns about the economic fallout from the conflict. Continue reading......

Promotion of beauty products to young girls may fuel compulsive habits and potential health risks, says watchdogItalian regulators are investigating Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics over the apparent use of “covert marketing strategies” to sell beauty products to young girls that might be fuelling an unhealthy skincare obsession called “cosmeticorexia”.The Italian Competition Authority said it was looking into promotions for skincare products such as face masks, serums and anti-ageing creams that in some cases appeared to target girls under 10. Continue reading......

Allan Leighton predicts food prices will inevitably rise as group's full-year profits dive by a third to £764mAsda's executive chair has called on the government to “stand up and start doing stuff” to support farmers and ease the price of fuel as he warned that food prices would inevitably rise as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.Allan Leighton said farmers were under pressure but the supermarket had so far received “a trickle of requests not an avalanche” of cost price increases from its suppliers, as they were under pressure from higher fertiliser, energy and fuel costs. Continue reading......

Allan Leighton's comments come as squeeze on supplies drives average UK petrol price above 150p a litreBusiness live – latest updatesThe boss of Asda has warned of “temporary shortages'” at petrol pumps as supplies are squeezed by the conflict in the Middle East, which has driven up average UK petrol prices to above 150p a litre.Allan Leighton, the executive chair of the supermarket chain, which is the UK's second largest fuel retailer, said it had been experiencing high demand from drivers as fuel prices have jumped about over the past four weeks since the war started. Continue reading......

Driving fast is in 'the German DNA', say lovers of the speed-limit free autobahn, but support in the country for a restriction is growingDeath-defying thrills are not what draws Lutz Leif Linden to zip down the autobahn faster than a plane taking off. Instead, the feeling of freedom and an appreciation of technological mastery play a part in his “almost loving relationship” with driving cars faster than most people can imagine.The top speed he has reached on the road in Germany, the world's only democracy without a blanket speed limit on motorways, is 400km/h (249mph). “It's like an airplane,” said Linden, the president of the Automobile Club of Germany (AvD). “You are faster than an Airbus at start.” Continue reading......

Report shows black music accounts for 80 per cent of money generated by UK industry in past 30 yearsLeading figures in the UK music industry are calling for more work to be done to support black talent in executive roles as a report finds that 80% of UK music revenue has been generated by black music in the past 30 years.A recent report by UK Music states that black music has made £24.5bn out of the £30bn generated by the UK music industry in the past 30 years. However, industry figures have highlighted that black people are still kept out of top executive roles. Continue reading......

Exclusive: Research finds sharp rise in models evading safeguards and destroying emails without permissionAI models that lie and cheat appear to be growing in number with reports of deceptive scheming surging in the last six months, a study into the technology has found.AI chatbots and agents disregarded direct instructions, evaded safeguards and deceived humans and other AI, according to research funded by the UK government-funded AI Safety Institute (AISI). The study, shared with the Guardian, identified nearly 700 real-world cases of AI scheming and charted a five-fold rise in misbehaviour between October and March, with some AI models destroying emails and other files without permission. Continue reading......

The real defining image of this presidency should be the bank statement of the average American citizenShockingly, inexplicably, Donald Trump keeps finding new places to put his face. Also, his name. Or initials. Or one of those drawings a turkey a kid does by tracing the outline of their hand. He's got his ballroom, the Kennedy Center, and a proposed 250ft arch that would become one of the tallest buildings in all of Washington DC – a city with longstanding height restrictions for development. His signature will be on US dollars later this year, in a first for a sitting president. I'd ask if he was getting tired of all the attention, but I think we know the answer to that. Up next is a commemorative gold coin – worth exactly $1 – featuring Trump's scowling visage looming menacingly over the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.It's a pretty classic Trump pose, designed to make a nearly-80-year-old man with a variety of mystery bruises who eats McDonald's on a regular basis look physically intimida...

Weak demand and global trade pressures hit ouput, with energy price rises expected to bring further dropBusiness live – latest updatesFewer cars rolled off UK production lines in February in what the industry called an “extremely worrying” slump even before the impact of the Iran war was felt.Vehicle production was 17% lower last month on the same period in 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, as exports dropped sharply. Continue reading......

People's payments, account details and national insurance numbers visible to other users, says Treasury committeeLloyds Banking Group exposed the personal data of nearly 500,000 customers in an IT glitch that left people's payments, account details and national insurance numbers visible to other users, a committee of MPs has revealed.A letter from Lloyds, published by MPs on the Treasury select committee on Friday, blamed the glitch on a software defect introduced during an IT update to its Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland mobile banking apps overnight into 12 March. Continue reading......

Oakland and New York campaigns for $30 minimum wage gain steam as workers battle high costs and pushbackMark Dorsey, a lifelong East Oakland resident, works two jobs to make ends meet. The 35-year-old Californian relies on manufacturing and service work through temp agencies and tries to work overtime or 10- to 12-hour shifts because “that's the only way you can see a paycheck that's worth something”.Dorsey often makes minimum wage or close to it. The city of Oakland's minimum wage is currently $17.34 an hour, higher than the minimum wage for the state of California, currently $16.90 an hour, but still not enough to support Dorsey. Continue reading......

Liz Kendall urged by online safety figures to hand job to Jeremy Wright ahead of Labour grandee Margaret HodgeMinisters are facing pressure to appoint a former Conservative cabinet minister as the new chair of the media regulator Ofcom, as he battles for the job against a Labour peer.The job of running the regulator has become a key post in public life, as concern over online content has grown rapidly, alongside the rise of more politically partisan broadcasting. No successor has yet been named to replace Michael Grade, the former BBC chair who has just weeks left in the job. Continue reading......

Prime minister says government needs to show it is on families' side as new screen-time guidance launched• UK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has promised a “fight” with social media firms amid efforts to limit children's use of mobile phones, tablets and TVs, as new official guidance recommends children under five spend no more than an hour a day on screens.The guidance, developed by a panel led by the children's commissioner, Rachel de Souza and children's health expert Prof Russell Viner, advises screen time for children under two should be avoided other than for shared activities. Continue reading......