A courtroom in the United States,

Is now confronting a long-standing question.

Did social media merely host behaviour or actively shape it?

As Mark Zuckerberg defends Meta,

The issue extends beyond one company.

It is about the architecture of attention.

Past goals to maximise user engagement now face legal scrutiny.

Design choices that may amplify vulnerability among young users.

Time spent, once a success metric, is now evidence.

Meta argues that personal circumstances, not platforms, drive harm.

But algorithms are not neutral,

They optimise and reinforce behaviour.

The courts may redefine where liability begins.

If engagement is engineered, responsibility cannot be denied.

Bal Krishna, Editor

bal@mycoordinates.org