--- title: "The Future Value of Meta and the Social Media Case Verdict" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/280595577.md" description: "In the Los Angeles Superior Court, the jury ruled that Meta and YouTube are liable in the social media addiction lawsuit. Meta also announced an executive stock incentive plan, aiming to increase its market value to $9.4 trillion by 2031. Although the stock price slightly dropped after the ruling, investors' concerns about future accountability may be overlooked. Meta's future value depends on the ability of its social applications to retain users, and the application of AI technology will also impact its business layout" datetime: "2026-03-26T08:55:35.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/280595577.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/280595577.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/280595577.md) --- > Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/280595577.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/280595577.md) # The Future Value of Meta and the Social Media Case Verdict At the Los Angeles Superior Court, after the jury ruled that Meta and YouTube must bear responsibility in the social media addiction lawsuit, the plaintiffs' families and lawyers responded to the news. Author: Martin Pierce The timing is simply terrible. On Tuesday evening, Meta Platforms Inc. publicly disclosed a new equity incentive plan for executives, the full payout of which is contingent upon the company's market value increasing from the current $1.5 trillion to over $9.4 trillion by 2031. Just hours later, on Wednesday, we exclusively reported that Meta would lay off hundreds of employees. A few hours after that, a jury in Los Angeles ruled that Meta and Google's YouTube were negligent in a lawsuit regarding social media addiction and must bear corresponding responsibility. The idea that this court ruling could suppress Meta's future stock price is not without merit. As my colleague Wu Ailin wrote on the eve of the trial at the end of January, this case is the first among thousands of similar lawsuits, with plaintiffs accusing the companies of deliberately creating addictive products that harm the mental health of young people. There is widespread expectation that this ruling will set a precedent for the handling of all similar cases and could even lead to a global settlement. So far, investors do not seem overly concerned. Within an hour of the ruling's announcement, the stock prices of both companies only dipped slightly, and the amount of compensation determined by the court was also lower than some market expectations. However, investors may be overlooking a more critical issue. Wu Ailin pointed out in January that the judicial precedent established by this case could expose social media companies to a new scope of liability. Additionally, some AI companies are currently facing lawsuits due to harm caused by AI chatbots, and the implications of this precedent could extend into new technology fields. It is also important to note that Meta's future value still heavily relies on its social applications' ability to retain users. In fact, from the statements of Meta executives, it appears they hope to use AI to make social information flows more accurately align with individual preferences than they do now. Therefore, regardless of how much compensation Meta and YouTube ultimately have to pay for past actions, this case could constrain the future business strategies of both companies. **Meta's Equity Incentive Plan** Even before the court ruling was issued on Wednesday, the large stock option incentive disclosed by Meta in its securities filing on Tuesday evening seemed somewhat like "showy compensation." For this batch of options to have any value, Meta's stock price must nearly double before 2031, rising above the minimum exercise price of $1,116 per share. While this is not impossible, it is far from guaranteed The condition for full vesting of the incentives is that the stock price reaches $3,727. If Meta's stock price can indeed achieve such an astonishing increase, executives including Chief Financial Officer Susan Li, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, and Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan could each easily gain nearly $800 million from this batch of options. Of course, these options could ultimately expire worthless. What is the purpose of this? Mark Zuckerberg seems to be emulating Elon Musk, showcasing his complete confidence in the company's future to the outside world. It is worth noting that Musk often publicly promotes Tesla's future value (he recently stated that a future market value of $100 trillion for Tesla is "not impossible"). Last fall, the electric vehicle manufacturer also passed a restricted stock incentive plan for Musk, which could be worth up to $1 trillion if Tesla achieves a series of goals over the next decade, including a market value of $8.5 trillion. (At that time, Tesla's market value was about $1 trillion, and it is now $1.4 trillion, very close to Meta.) The target market value set by Meta is nearly $1 trillion higher than Tesla's; could this be a coincidence? Considering the numerous obstacles both companies face, it is highly risky to hastily judge which is more likely to achieve its goals. Tesla is attempting to transform into a robotics and autonomous taxi company, and it remains uncertain whether Musk will succeed. On the other hand, Zuckerberg is investing heavily in AI, and aside from further amplifying its already massive advertising business, there is currently no clear path to profitability. Given Meta's lackluster stock performance over the past year, investors are not optimistic. Even if this batch of options ultimately becomes worthless, there is no need to feel sorry for these executives. They each earn nearly $1 million in annual salary, with cash bonuses remaining roughly the same, and they also receive new restricted stock incentives worth typically tens of millions of dollars each year. This stock option incentive is an additional grant beyond the restricted stock incentives. In other words, this batch of options is merely the icing on the cake—albeit a very luxurious icing ### Related Stocks - [Meta Platforms, Inc. 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