Mark Zuckerberg

Feb. 17 (UPI) — Artificial intelligence and software analytics firm Palantir Technologies Inc. has moved its headquarters from Denver to Miami, company officials announced on Tuesday.

The announcement was made on social media and says only that Palantir has moved its headquarters to Miami without providing other information.

The tech firm has many government contracts, including with federal immigration law enforcement agencies and the military, which recently triggered protests and vandalism at Palantir’s Denver headquarters.

Palantir co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp recently described it as a “completely anti-woke” firm that seeks employees who share its values, according to the Denver Gazette.

Palantir accepted a $30 million contract to create the ImmigrationOS app that enables Immigration and Customs Enforcement to support self-deportation, and the U.S. Army awarded the tech firm an up-to-$10 billion contract to provide data and software tools over the next decade.

Palantir also is among the corporate donors that contributed $300 million to build a ballroom on the site of the former East Wing of the White House.

Palantir’s co-founders established the tech firm in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2003 and in 2020 moved its headquarters to Denver.

The move to Miami follows that of many other tech firms and positions the coastal city as a rival to California’s Silicon Valley.

Florida’s tax-friendly business environment has helped the state to lure many tech billionaires from California, where lawmakers are wrangling over a proposed 5% wealth tax on residents who have a net worth of $1 billion or more.

Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel has relocated to Miami ahead of the tech firm’s headquarters move, and Karp in 2020 said the tech firm does not share the same values as many others in Silicon Valley’s tech community.

Meta Platforms Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg also is among wealthy big-tech bosses who have moved from California to Florida, and many tech firms have established hubs in Miami.

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube will face accusers in a series of lawsuits alleging that they intentionally design their platforms to be addictive.

The trials begin in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, filed by a group of parents, teens and school districts. Once teens are addicted to the platforms, plaintiffs allege, they suffer from depression, self-harm, eating disorders and more. There are about 1,600 plaintiffs involving 350 families and 250 school districts.

“The fact that a social media company is going to have to stand trial before a jury … is unprecedented,” Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and an attorney in the cases, said in a press conference.

The first case involves a 19-year-old identified as KGM and her mother, Karen Glenn. They are suing TikTok, Meta and YouTube because they say the companies created addictive features that damaged her mental health and led to self-harm and suicidal ideation. Snap was also a defendant in the case, but it settled the case last week.

Her case’s outcome could help determine the outcomes of more than 1,000 injury cases against the companies. The case is expected to last several weeks.

The thousands of cases against these tech giants have been lumped together in a judicial council coordination proceeding, which allows California cases to collaborate and streamline pre-trial hearings.

The plaintiffs want financial damages as well as injunctions that would force the companies to change the design of their platforms and create industry-wide safety standards.

Top company executives are expected to testify, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri and more. Experts in online harm are also expected to testify.

“For parents whose children have been exploited, groomed, or died because of big tech platforms, the next six weeks are the first step toward accountability after years of being ignored by these companies,” Sarah Gardner, CEO of the Heat Initiative, which advocates for child safety online, told CNN. “These are the tobacco trials of our generation, and for the first time, families across the country will hear directly from big tech CEOs about how they intentionally designed their products to addict our kids.”

KGM alleges in court documents that on Instagram she was bullied and sextorted, which is when someone threatens to share explicit images of the victim unless they send money or more photos.

For two weeks, KGM’s friends and family had to ask other Instagram users to report the people targeting her before Meta would do something about it, court documents said.

“Defendants’ knowing and deliberate product design, marketing, distribution, programming and operational decision and conduct caused serious emotional and mental harms to K.G.M. and her family,” the suit said. “Those harms include, but are not limited to, dangerous dependency on their products, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and body dysmorphia.”

Tech companies and their CEOs reject the allegation that social media harms teens’ mental health. They argue that it offers a connection with friends and entertainment. They also lean on Section 230, a federal law that protects them from liability over content posted by users.