A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after a Los Angeles jury found major social media platforms negligent, ruling that their products are designed to be addictive and cause harm to young users.
The landmark case involved tech giants Meta and Alphabet, with the jury finding them liable for damages due to the severe negative mental health effects on a young user. Investors were concerned about the potential for increased regulation and costly litigation, which could impact future profitability and force changes to the platforms’ core design and algorithms.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
Snap’s shares are very volatile and have had 22 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Snap and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 17 days ago when the stock dropped 2.6% on the news that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East caused a significant spike in oil prices, raising concerns about consumer spending and business costs.
Fears of a wider conflict escalated, disrupting key shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz, a route for about a fifth of the world’s oil supply. In response, crude oil prices jumped sharply, with Brent crude futures surging as much as 14%. For consumer-focused companies, this presents a dual threat: higher fuel costs can squeeze profit margins by increasing shipping and operational expenses, while also leaving consumers with less disposable income to spend on non-essential goods and services. The uncertainty led to a broad market sell-off as investors moved towards safe-haven assets like the U.S. dollar.
Snap is down 50.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $4 per share, it is trading 61.4% below its 52-week high of $10.35 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Snap’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $77.52.
