Weekly news roundup: Meta lawsuit, Sora shutdown and DarkSword leak

Meta and YouTube lose landmark social media addiction case

After a seven-week trial, Meta and YouTube have been found liable and negligent in a social media addiction lawsuit.

The jury found the tech giants liable for designing their platforms in ways that intentionally fostered addiction, resulting in serious harm to a young woman’s mental health. The woman testified that prolonged use of Instagram and YouTube left her struggling with body dysmorphia, depression, and suicidal thoughts. The court awarded a total of $3 million in damages to the victim.

Both Meta and YouTube plan to appeal the decision.

The day before the California decision, a New Mexico court found Meta responsible for misleading users for the safety of its platforms for children. A jury found that Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was liable for the way that its platforms endangered children by exposing them to sexually explicit material and contact with sexual predators and was ordered to pay $375 million in damages.

Meta intends to appeal the decision.

OpenAI shuts down video tool, Sora

On March 24, 2026, OpenAI announced it is shutting down its video-generation tool, Sora. “We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you,” the company said in a statement.

The closure comes just six months after the app’s launch and follows a $1 billion investment pledge with Disney, which would have allowed users to generate videos featuring Disney characters and IP.

DarkSword leak puts millions of iPhones at risk

A powerful iPhone exploit kit known as DarkSword was leaked publicly on GitHub. Researchers warn that the leak could allow hackers access to millions of iPhones and iPads running on iOS 18 and earlier.

The malware is capable of accessing end-to-end encrypted messages, turning on the device’s microphone and camera and stealing stored passwords.

This attack highlights the urgency of prompt OS updates and robust mobile security practices.

AWS faces further service disruptions due to ongoing conflict

AWS has faced another wave of disruption in its Bahrain cloud region as ongoing Middle East conflict impacts its infrastructure. Following disruptions, AWS advised customers to migrate their applications to alternate AWS regions. The outages, linked to regional drone activity, mark the second major disruption in less than a month and highlight the growing geopolitical risk to cloud infrastructure.

For CIOs, this news highlights the value of multi-region architectures and disaster recovery planning.

As of March 26, AWS has not provided a definitive timeline for full restoration, leaving enterprises to navigate operational continuity in a volatile region.

Elon Musk announces AI chip manufacturing project

Over the weekend, Elon Musk announced that Tesla SpaceX and xAI will build a new chip manufacturing facility in Texas, named Terafab. The facility will reportedly manufacture semiconductors to be used across the companies' products.

SpaceX to file for U.S. IPO

SpaceX is preparing to file for a U.S. IPO as soon as this week, according to The Information. This could become one of the largest IPOs in history, with the company attempting to raise more than $75 billion.

Executive moves

• Doug Hughes. On March 25, Codio, a learning platform for teaching coding and technical skills appointed Doug Hughes as its new CEO.
• Pat Doran. On March 26, telecoms company Synchronoss Technologies appointed Pat Doran as CEO, following the company's acquisition by the Lumine Group.
• Jerry Fleeman Jr. Dollar General appointed Ahold Delhaize USA CEO, Jerry Fleeman Jr. as CEO, with the change set to take effect January 1, 2027.
• AI advisory council. This week, the U.S. government appointed a new wave of tech leaders to its AI advisory council, including CEOs Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jensen Huang (Nvidia) and Lisa Su (AMD).

IPO watch

The U.S. IPO market remains a key indicator of broader tech sentiment. Here's a look at the latest listings and activity from the past week, based on data from the Nasdaq IPO calendar:

Future Money Acquisition Corp.

• A blank check company with a focus on AI, Web3 and intelligent manufacturing.
• Expected opening/trading day: March 27.
• IPO price: $10/share.

Inflection Point Acquisition Corp.

• A series of special purpose acquisition companies, with a focus on AI-powered aerospace and energy technology.
• Expected opening/trading day: March 27.
• IPO price: $10/share.

QDRO Acquisition Corp.

• A blank check company with a focus on financial services.
• Expected opening/trading day: March 27.
• IPO price: $10/share.

Apogee Acquisition Corp.

• Blank check company.
• Expected opening/trading day: March 27.
• IPO price: $10/share.

Rosa Heaton is a content manager and writer for the IT Strategy team at TechTarget.