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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Testifies in Court; Zuckerberg Questioned About Under-13 Users on Instagram; Soon: Trump Celebrates Black History Month in WH Ceremony; TMZ Says It's Received New Ransom Demand in Guthrie Case; Parents React to Meta CEO Zuckerberg's Testimony; Sheriff: 8 Skiers Found Dead After Avalanche, 9th Still Missing 3-3:30p ET

Aired February 18, 2026 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: ... right into a house. Unbelievable video here. Authorities say the driver may have hit a dirt mound before launching into the air. He is facing reckless driving and other charges. Thankfully the family in that home was not hurt. But as you can see, there was significant damage there. As for the driver, he and a passenger were treated for minor injuries.

Another hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Mark Zuckerberg on the witness stand. The founder of Facebook testifying for the first time before a jury in a lawsuit that seeks to hold social media platforms responsible for younger users' mental health.

Plus, eight backcountry skiers found dead after an avalanche buried them near Lake Tahoe in Northern California. Rescuers still searching for an additional missing person.

Also, a megafire the size of Chicago burning across two states. Thousands have been forced to evacuate. There seems to be no relief in sight for crews battling these intense flames.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

One of the architects of social media that so many of us use today is now facing pointed questions about the safety of his platforms. Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is testifying in a Los Angeles courtroom. His company and Google's YouTube are on trial over features which plaintiffs say harm young people by being deliberately addictive.

A short time ago, a lawyer for the plaintiffs zeroed in on age restrictions for Instagram. He grilled Zuckerberg about whether children younger than 13 have access to that app. One of the plaintiffs, identified only as Kaylee (ph), says she was nine years old when she became a user. She claims that access harmed her mental health.

Both Meta and Google have denied those allegations while highlighting some of the new features initiated to protect young people. But as Zuckerberg testifies, he's in a courtroom with several parents who claim that his platform have hurt their children. Some of them have filed their own lawsuits, and the results of this trial could be a watershed moment for their cases.

Joining us now is CNN Contributor and the host of On and Pivot podcasts, Kara Swisher. She's covered Mark Zuckerberg extensively.

Kara, thanks so much for being with us this afternoon. What's your reaction to seeing Zuckerberg walk into court?

KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he's -- he's been on the stands and is under questioning by Congress a lot, so this is not a new thing. And everything he's saying is exactly what he said before. You know, what me (ph) -- did I do this, and sort of pushing down his responsibility, as opposed to the things he could have done a lot earlier to ensure that these platforms were safer, especially for kids.

SANCHEZ: A Meta spokesperson says the company is confident evidence is going to show what they describe as their long-standing commitment to supporting young people. How extensive is that evidence, actually, Kara?

SWISHER: Sorry, I'm sorry. Did I laugh out loud? I thought -- I thought I did that internally.

No, of course not. They've been on a growth trajectory, and growth has been the most important thing to Mark. And I think the problem is there's a lot of emails and texts and discussions within Facebook about this issue. They've been on a growth spurt, including with young people, for a long time. And they do have tools.

Initially, the tools were really hard to use. They've made them easier, for sure. They've added more. But for -- it took them up till, what, 2019 before they really put age -- putting your birthday in and things like that. And they -- you know, and they said -- they claimed privacy issues, but I think it was they wanted the growth to happen. So, I think that's the question, is can they prove that they -- what they were saying and what they were doing were two different things.

SANCHEZ: You noted some of the internal communications. It's been nearly five years since we first saw them -- this whistleblower, Frances Haugen, came forward and told Congress that Facebook products harmed kids. They stoked a vision. They're a danger to democracy.

SWISHER: Yes.

SANCHEZ: What have lawmakers done on social media since then?

SWISHER: What's less than zero? Nothing. They've been, you know, they're bought and paid for by the tech companies in terms of -- of -- of legislation. We have no legislation governing any of this. And the legislation that we have advantages people like Mark Zuckerberg, Section 230 and other things. But compared to most other industries, this industry has almost no restrictions on it, that normal other companies have, you know, HR and things like that. So, there hasn't been a privacy bill. There's not an algorithmic

transparency bill. There's not a -- an antitrust bill. You could go on and on and on and -- and -- and these people are not restricted, and therefore they're going to grow. They're like the Borg (ph). And I think Mark is sort of the personification of that, is wanting to grow bigger and bigger and bigger and dominate. And we'll see if this jury believes him, whether they believe as they, you know -- whether the stuff is addictive.

[15:05:04]

And I think -- I always think about -- there's only one product that uses the term user. It's drug -- drug dealers, essentially. And so, you know, many people in Silicon Valley have pointed this out for many years, that these -- these things are like cigarette companies. And I would agree with them. Even -- even Marc Benioff said that in an interview with me five -- six years ago. And the question is, are they -- are they addictive?

And I think anyone -- Boris, I suspect you feel they're addictive when you're using them. I feel addictive when I'm using them.

SANCHEZ: Oh, no doubt.

SWISHER: And when it's -- when it's given to teens, that's a really big, big difference. I don't think kids should be on this stuff till they're 16 to 18, really. And we have to think really hard and have studies that were allowed inside of Facebook to understand what they already know about users and how they -- how they keep people in these casinos of attention and that's what they are, and --

SANCHEZ: Casinos of attention.

SWISHER: -- we'll see if this one works, but -- yes, so that's what they are.

SANCHEZ: Casinos of attention seem -- seems very apt.

SWISHER: And they know -- they know it.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I mean, they're designed to keep your attention, right?

SWISHER: Right, exactly.

SANCHEZ: I mean, that's how they -- they profit.

SWISHER: Yes. Yes.

SANCHEZ: I -- I do wonder, because you -- you mentioned the tobacco lawsuits of the '90s. You alluded to -- to them, and we saw a big tobacco change after that. Do you think these lawsuits ...

SWISHER: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- could potentially change how these social media companies operate? SWISHER: You know, our -- our -- our legislators should have been doing this a long time ago, and I do -- and on the state level, there's been some activity, but it has to be a federal -- the fact that there's been no legislation since -- since these companies were founded 20, 25 years ago is really quite something. And it's not just Facebook, by the way -- I don't -- you don't want to pick on them. They're just the biggest, and therefore that's why we should pick on them.

But, you know, you have YouTube and everything else, and algorithmically it's designed to pull you in and keep you there, and that's really the problem, is that you can't get out. It's -- it's a, you know, it -- it is like a casino. And we all joke about casinos with no light or the -- the blinking lights and things like that, and many people like Tristan Harris and others have been talking about this. I've been talking about it for a decade, and nothing seems to happen.

And everybody knows, right, from -- any parent knows, any -- anyone with young kids knows, and anyone themselves knows what happens when you get on Instagram or you get on YouTube or anything else, and it's unlike anything else. And the only equivalent is -- is an addiction of some sort, and this is an attention addiction, really.

SANCHEZ: Kara Swisher, always great to have your perspective.

SWISHER: But I'm not a doctor. I'm not a doctor, so, I -- you know, but you know ...

SANCHEZ: Well, I mean, it seems -- it seems like a pretty fair assessment of -- of the control that these algorithms have over our attention.

SWISHER: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Great to see you as always, Kara. Thank you so much.

SWISHER: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Brianna.

KEILAR: Happening right now at the White House, President Trump is hosting a reception celebrating Black History Month. And this commemoration comes about two weeks after the President reposted, then deleted, a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

Today's ceremony also comes after the Trump administration ordered the removal of a slavery exhibit last month from a historical museum in Philadelphia. It was an open-air exhibit not far from the Liberty Bell. A federal judge has since ordered the display to be put back.

Matt Brown is with us. He is the politics reporter for the Associated Press.

I think this is a really interesting moment, Matt, for this Black History celebration, where the President went into the month proclaiming that Black History is not distinct from American history; rather, the history of Black Americans is an indispensable chapter in our grand-American story. What are you seeing?

MATT BROWN, POLITICS REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes, absolutely. In some ways, it's not unusual at all for a president to be issuing a proclamation like that and to be having a celebration here at the White House, where we can see many of the President's allies, many of the African-American activists who actually got him elected in a lot of these communities, or at least made inroads with the black population across the country, are definitely in that room right now and celebrating.

What is unusual, though, about the last year that we've seen with this administration is the administration's commitment and the President's numerous executive orders targeting how history is taught in American schools and universities, and including institutions like the Smithsonian Institution or displays at the Kennedy Center.

KEILAR: Yes, it's -- and it seemed like the judge -- that federal judge rebuking the Trump administration, kind of invoking 1984, spoke to that. We did mention that video, which got a lot of backlash, including from Republicans. So, the President was facing this rebuke from people within his own party, and we learned on Friday that actually President Trump had privately lashed out about that, complaining that GOP lawmakers had publicly condemned the video. What is his view on this been?

BROWN: I mean, this has been such a striking series of events here. Republicans in the Senate and House do not normally criticize President Donald Trump, as we know, over the last year. But this image of the racist caricature of Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes did cause first, Tim Scott, the senator from South Carolina, who is the only black Republican in the chamber, to issue a pretty forceful pushback on the statement.

[15:10:02]

That then caused a cascade of other lawmakers in -- on the Republican side of the aisle to issue concerns and say that this is not who America is, and that the President -- it was mistaken for posting this. That's a kind of backlash that the President and the White House were not expecting to see and we're not used to feeling from people in their own coalition, and that is why after initially defending the post and saying that it was the result of, you know, a staffer at first, or that it was just supposedly depicting "The Lion King," even though there's no apes in "The Lion King," the Trump -- the Trump administration ...

KEILAR: Good point, Matt.

BROWN: ... did ultimately take down the video. And while Trump has not apologized for it, said that he, of course, condemned the racism in the image. That was a series of events, though, that really rattled the White House precisely because they do not normally get that level of critique from their Republican allies. KEILAR: Yes, it was a really extraordinary moment. It's also worth noting -- I mean, when you look at the President's appeal to Black voters, he really improved his performance, especially among Black men, in the 2024 election. I wonder how Republicans are seeing that as they're going into the midterms, if they are worried, if they feel that the President has sort of messed up with a group that he should have been, you know, really, I guess, trying to hang on to, because it was pretty extraordinary that he'd made those inroads.

BROWN: I mean, yes. Look, the President created a coalition that is spanned, you know, in roads with black communities, with Latino communities, with younger voters and non-college educated voters in the 2024 election. That was a broad coalition. But it was -- we were seeing over the last year in polling not necessarily the strongest or -- or thickest coalition for the President here, where a lot of those same voters have been disgruntled by the administration's actions on immigration, the administration's actions on economics.

And when you come and see these, you know, flashpoints, I mean I got with so many, you know, folks who were, you know, activists who had campaigned for the President, who had, you know, organized for him in a lot of Black communities across the country, a lot of those same activists expressed concern about the situation because they did not believe that any of the President's achievements that the administration was going to try to tout or claim that they had accomplished would be able to break through to, you know, a situation like this, where the -- the Republican president is so clearly, you know, posting a racist image that has, you know, shocked and disgruntled so many in the black community.

KEILAR: Yes, it is really a -- a moment, it is to watch.

Matt Brown, great to have you. Thank you so much.

BROWN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come: some new details about the search for Nancy Guthrie. Why investigators are now visiting gun shops in and around Tucson.

Plus, officials say they found the bodies of eight of the nine skiers who were buried by an avalanche in Northern California.

And then later, strong winds and dry conditions are fueling more than a dozen wildfires in Oklahoma and Kansas, forcing thousands to evacuate. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:22]

SANCHEZ: We're following new reporting on the search for Nancy Guthrie, as the case is now in its 18th day. Media outlet TMZ, just a short time ago, said they received a new ransom demand and have forwarded it to the FBI. TMZ is also reporting that their sources say the FBI believes it's possible Nancy was taken across the border, but it's unlikely it happened directly after the kidnapping.

CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller is with us. John, what is your reaction to this new ransom note and this reporting from TMZ?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we've seen ransom notes that came in immediately after the kidnapping, demanding ransom in return for Nancy Guthrie, and we saw those fizzle out when -- whoever the writers of those notes were broke contact. We then saw ransom notes coming from other people saying, for -- in return for a ransom, I will give you the name of the kidnapper, which is different from, I can return the victim to you.

And now, we're seeing what TMZ is describing as yet another ransom note, in some measure because of the profile that TMZ has had in this case, they have made themselves kind of ransom notes central for people who are trying to contact the family, contact the FBI. But they all start with the same thing. They all want money. They all want it through either Bitcoin or other tokens that are in cryptocurrency.

So those that don't have specific information that only a kidnapper would know have to be looked at pretty -- pretty much a scant as potential scams.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I also wanted to get your thoughts on what we've been hearing locally, officials apparently visiting gun shops in the Tucson area. Here is what one shop owner told Fox yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP MARTIN, GUN SHOP OWNER: I was able to look at the photos that he was showing me, and I told the FBI agent, I was like, I'm no investigator, but my intuition is telling me, based on how these -- these people's facial hair looks like, it looks like the guy that was on camera at that house doing the kidnapping. He was like, yes, that's why I'm here. He was like, we're going to be going to different gun shops checking to see if any of these names that I'm showing you here, any of these people have purchased a gun in the last year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: How do you read that, John?

MILLER: Well, I think the FBI is going through all of the steps they should be going through. You know, we see in the video of this individual on the porch, prominently displayed in front, he's wearing a holster with a gun -- the wrong gun for that holster.

[15:20:01]

So, it may indicate someone who has little or no experience with guns, but that would also indicate maybe it was a new purchase. So, they're asking gun owner -- gun store owners, have you made a purchase -- have you seen a purchase from somebody who looks like this within the past year? The idea, though, Boris, that they're showing photographs of actual

individuals tells us what we already kind of suspected, which is they have a list of persons of interest who are not prime suspects, but people they're looking at for a reason. And a case like this, you would go through people who had records for burglary, people who were out on parole, maybe from a home invasion, people who might have had a second- or third-degree association with the family as an employee or a relative of a service provider. They're casting a wide net at this point because as some of these key leads fade away and these DNA tests don't come back with matches, they're going to expand that net.

SANCHEZ: Yes, understandable, given that we're at day 18 now. John Miller, thank you so much for that reporting. Anyone who thinks they may have seen something suspicious or know anything about the potential whereabouts of Nancy Guthrie is asked to call either of the numbers on your screen. You can reach the Pima County Sheriff's Department. You can also reach the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Still ahead, eight backcountry skiers were found dead after an avalanche in Northern California. Rescuers still looking for an additional missing person, we have the latest in that story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:16]

SANCHEZ: The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, is now facing pointed questions about the safety of his platforms. Zuckerberg has been testifying under oath for much of the day and in front of parents who say that his platforms either harm their kids or in some cases contributed to their deaths. During our break just moments ago one parent described his testimony so far, listen.

It appears that unfortunately we don't have that soundbite right now, but our reporters are live at the hearing inside the room, and we will continue to bring you updates throughout the afternoon, Brianna.

KEILAR: Authorities have just confirmed an avalanche has killed eight backcountry skiers near Lake Tahoe in California, in an area known as Castle Peak. There is a ninth skier who is still missing. Six others, a guide and five skiers, survived. Some of them are injured.

Rescuers say those skiers located three of the bodies. The group organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides was heading back yesterday after a three-day trek. Now, officials in Nevada and Placer counties are working to remove those killed, as search teams navigate dangerous conditions, including the risk of another avalanche. CNN Stephanie Elam is covering this for us.

Stephanie, what an incredible tragedy. We were speaking earlier about these difficult conditions. They were up against a lot, and now we've heard this terrible news that eight of the nine are confirmed dead.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's horrific, and the -- the ninth person is presumed to be dead as well. What we learned from those local officials is that the six people who were rescued on their own were able to find three of their other members of their group. They found them dead there. And then, when they were able to rescue them, get them out, two of those people could not walk out on their own. They were able to get them to a hospital. One was treated last night and released. The other one is expected to make a full recovery as well.

But when they went back in, that's when they found the other eight people. They're very close, they said, in the near area to where those other six had been rescued from.

It's worth noting here that the weather conditions are still very bad. This was the fourth -- or, I should say maybe put it this way -- the second highest of avalanche threats as they measure them in this area during this time. This group coming back through those conditions, and that is when this avalanche was triggered. Someone saw it among the group and yelled and tried to get people to move as best they could. But what's really phenomenal here, too, is that someone in that group of six had an iPhone, and using iPhone SOS, connecting to a satellite, was able to connect to those rest first responders, and that's how they were able to get out to them 11 hours after the avalanche occurred.

What we know is that on this trip it was a total of nine women and six men who were out there. They were able to take snow mobiles to get out there to a certain point, and then had to ski the rest of the way in because there are fears of further avalanche triggers.

In fact, take a listen to the supervisor from the Tahoe National Forest discussing just that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS FEUTRIER, FOREST SUPERVISOR, TAHOE NATIONAL FOREST: It was about a football field in length. It resulted when a persistent weak layer had a large load of snow over the top of it. That persistent weak layer is still there and has reloaded with another three feet of snow. So, it has -- the hazard remains high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM:

And it's worth noting, since these were people who were going out in the backcountry for three days, at the time of those eight that were found dead, seven were female, two were men, and all of them did have beacons on them.

[15:29:59]

Now, that one person is still missing, according to the responders here, saying that one of them is the spouse of the Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue, which is a one of the groups that has been responding to help recover ...