platform trials

The first US trial against TikTok is set to test claims that the platform fueled a teen mental health crisis. The case will examine whether the company's design and algorithms contributed to harm among young users, and its outcome could shape future litigation against social media companies and pressure on regulators over youth online safety.

Google has begun testing a feature that lets users in India buy products from Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce platform owned by Walmart, directly through its Gemini assistant and AI Mode in Search. The trial points to a broader push to turn AI chat and search experiences into shopping channels, as tech companies race to blend conversational AI with online commerce.

Platform trials, which test multiple treatments simultaneously against a shared control group, are increasingly used in medicine and are changing how clinical evidence is generated. Critics and commentators argue that drug regulators have not adapted their evaluation frameworks to this faster, more flexible trial design, raising questions about how such evidence should be assessed and approved.