Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

NPR News Now

NPR News: 02-18-2026 2PM EST

18 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.33 - 20.2 Lakshmi Singh

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The CEO of the big tech company Meta is testifying today in a landmark social media trial. Mark Zuckerberg is facing accusations that Meta's platform, Instagram, has been engineered to hook young people. Here's NPR's Bobby Allen.

0

Chapter 2: What are the key issues in the Meta social media trial?

20.18 - 37.606 Bobby Allen

A core question of the trial is whether tech companies should be found legally liable for designing social media apps in ways that have harmed or worsened users' mental health. Silicon Valley has long avoided legal repercussions thanks to a federal shield known as Section 230. It makes it hard to sue tech companies for content users post.

0

37.986 - 51.857 Bobby Allen

But this trial is framing social media platforms as a defective product designed knowing the harms they could cause. The outcome of this trial could shape 1,600 other social media addiction cases still pending. Bobby Allen in PR News.

0

52.023 - 67.387 Lakshmi Singh

Pushback is intensifying against CBS. In the last 24 hours, late-night talk show giant Stephen Colbert called out network lawyers for denying they'd blocked his on-air interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Tallarico over fears of running afoul of the FCC.

0

68.068 - 86.6 Lakshmi Singh

And CBS is also losing 60 Minutes veteran Anderson Cooper at a time when Barry Weiss's editorial leadership is running afoul of a number of seasoned journalists. This is happening against a backdrop of Paramount Skydance's final attempt to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery. CBS's parent company is run by the Ellison family, allies of President Trump.

0

87.261 - 93.373 Lakshmi Singh

Democratic California Congressman Sam Liccardo says he's concerned about what that could mean for independence in the media.

93.513 - 111.48 Sam Liccardo

It's certainly concern enough if you have oligarchical control. of major broadcast TV news sources that the American public relies upon. But it's even more problematic when you have a very cozy relationship between that CEO and the president.

111.52 - 128.615 Lakshmi Singh

Representative Sam Liccardo speaking with NPR's Morning Edition. We should note Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount Plus are financial supporters of NPR. The Trump administration is releasing more than $200 million of frozen funds for the Gateway-Hudson River Tunnel project linking New York and New Jersey.

129.257 - 135.473 Lakshmi Singh

As Walter Wuthman of member station WNYC tells us, contractors say work can resume next week.

135.453 - 150.155 Walter Wuthman

Work stopped earlier this month when the Gateway Development Commission said it had run out of money and exhausted a line of credit. President Trump had frozen money for the new train tunnels under the Hudson River in late September, saying the project would be, quote, financially catastrophic for the region.

Chapter 3: How does Section 230 protect tech companies from lawsuits?

171.148 - 197.104 Lakshmi Singh

U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average now up more than 300 points. This is NPR. A New Jersey Catholic diocese confirms a $180 million settlement to resolve clergy sex abuse allegations. On its website, the Catholic Church of South Jersey says the Survivors Committee unanimously agreed to accept the terms of the agreement.

0

197.584 - 216.304 Lakshmi Singh

Bishop Joseph A. Williams writes the settlement is long overdue for survivors. Nine skiers are still missing following yesterday's avalanche near Lake Tahoe in California. The Nevada County Sheriff's Office says six people were rescued. In a long operation, two skiers had to be sent to the hospital.

0

217.077 - 233.425 Lakshmi Singh

The condition known as preeclampsia is marked by skyrocketing blood pressure and can be fatal to pregnant women and their babies. Ari Daniel reports on a new drug being tested in South Africa that researchers hope may be the first for their condition.

0

233.465 - 238.093 Kathy Kluver

Kathy Kluver is a professor at Stellenbosch University who studies preeclampsia.

0

238.113 - 242.14 Sam Liccardo

It really is one of the most serious complications of pregnancy.

242.12 - 258.374 Kathy Kluver

Prescribing conventional blood pressure medicine is risky because it may also reduce blood flow to the baby. Now, Kluver and her team are testing a new drug at Tigerburg Hospital in Cape Town that appears to reduce the mother's blood pressure while also improving blood flow to the womb.

258.715 - 260.356 Bobby Allen

We were like, we don't believe this.

Chapter 4: What implications does the Meta trial have for social media addiction cases?

260.376 - 261.857 Bobby Allen

Like, this is impossible.

0

262.078 - 270.405 Kathy Kluver

The researchers say there's still more to learn about how the drug works and whether it can keep mothers pregnant for longer. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel.

0

270.841 - 278.355 Lakshmi Singh

The Nasdaq is up 1.2%, S&P 500 up more than three-quarters of a percent. You're listening to NPR News.

0

280.178 - 293.963 Unknown

Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.

0
Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.