Return to Transcripts main page

What We Know with Max Foster

Meta CEO Zuckerberg Testifies In Social Media Addiction Trial; Israeli Sources: Israel Steps Up Military Preparations Amid Indications Of Potential U.S.-Israeli Attack On Iran; U.S.-Russia-Ukraine Talks End Without Major Breakthrough; Sheriff: 8 Missing Skiers Found Dead After Avalanche; Russia Vows To Support Cuba Amid U.S. Oil Blockade. Aired 3-4p 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.

[15:00:31]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand in a landmark social media trial.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

One of the richest men on earth being grilled right now in Los Angeles, a courtroom there. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook and

Instagram, faces questions about whether his social media platforms are addictive and if they were designed to be that way.

This is the first time a jury has been asked to place blame for social media addiction, and the case was brought by a woman who started using

social media before the age of 10. And now, a decade later, says she faces mental health problems. Meta says the woman's mental health struggles began

before she ever started using social media.

CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy is with me.

Take me through Zuckerberg's argument here then, because he's having to go back to the time before she was 10 and use social media, I guess.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah, Max, we have just gotten our first update from the courtroom. Our reporter Samantha Delouya is in the room

there, and Mark Zuckerberg is being asked about whether the company has allowed users under the age of 13 on to Instagram. This plaintiff, Kaylee,

alleges that she started using Instagram at the age of nine, despite the fact that technically, the company's policy is users have to be 13 and

above.

Now, mark Zuckerberg reiterated that policy, said that users have to be 13, but Kaylee's lawyer, Mark Lanier, brought in internal documents suggesting

that the company had millions of 10 to 12-year-olds on the platform, as of 2015. He also brought up the fact that it wasn't until 2019 that Instagram

started asking users to provide their birthdays when they signed up for the platform in 2021, it asked existing users for their birthdays. All sort of,

you know hammering home the point that when Kaylee signed up for this platform, she was not asked how old she was.

Mark Zuckerberg said that prior to those policy changes, there were some privacy concerns, but he feels like the company is now in a good place. He

was also asked whether Meta has goals around trying to maximize the amount of time that users spend on Instagram. Mark Zuckerberg did concede that the

company at one point had goals like that. He said, now, the company is focused on value. All of this is trying to get at this central question of

whether the company has done enough to mitigate the potential risks to young users, and also whether Meta and Mark Zuckerberg have prioritized

profits over user safety.

Now, as you said, Meta has argued that Kaylee's difficult family life growing up is responsible for her mental health challenges, not Instagram

and social media. Ahead of Mark Zuckerberg's testimony, a Meta spokesperson told me, quote, the question for the jury in Los Angeles is whether

Instagram was a substantial factor in the plaintiff's mental health struggles. The evidence will show she faced many significant, difficult

challenges well before she ever used social media.

But, Max, Kaylee's lawyer has argued that that difficult upbringing actually just made her a more vulnerable target for these addictive social

media features. And interestingly, Kaylee is in the courtroom today for this testimony. She has not been present for much of the trial, but she is

there to watch Mark Zuckerberg testify today -- Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Clare, thank you for that update from California.

Now there are growing fears the U.S. could be moving closer to war with Iran as the U.S. ramps up its military presence in the Middle East. Two

Israeli sources have now told CNN that Israel is raising its alert level and stepping up military preparations, with growing indications of a

potential joint U.S.-Israeli attack in the coming days.

Indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran ended without a clear breakthrough this week. The discussions were mediated by Oman and held in Geneva. The

White House says Iran will be wise to make a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against the -- against Iran. The

president has always been very clear, though, with respect to Iran or any country around the world, diplomacy is always his first option, and Iran

would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with this administration

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, meanwhile, as the press secretary was giving that briefing, President Donald Trump posted on social media suggesting Iran could

potentially launch an attack on the U.K. or other countries in retaliation. Mr. Trump slammed British plans to give ownership of the Chagos Islands in

the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, including the Air Base at Diego Garcia, the U.S. and U.K. can keep using the base as part of that plan, but the

president says that base and another base in England may be needed in the event of any Iranian military action.

Kylie Atwood is following developments from Washington.

[15:05:02]

And we've spoken about this before. It's hard to differentiate what is pressure on Iran during these negotiations and what we're hearing from

Israel, which suggests that they're very close to a confrontation.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's a really -- it's a really good point because what you hear from U.S. officials across the

board is that diplomacy is the preferred route here for President Trump, that he wants to pull off a diplomatic nuclear deal with Iran. We know that

the second round of those talks took place earlier this week. And from that perspective, this U.S. military buildup, even these actions that Israeli

officials are saying are being taken by the Israeli military do appear to be a pressure campaign.

But alternatively, they can be viewed as actual movements towards potential military operations, and we are hearing from Israeli officials, as you

said, that they have increased their alert level. They've also increased planning operationally, defensively militarily as it comes to these ongoing

talks that have been happening between the U.S. and Iran, that military planning that Israel has been doing comes as Israeli officials according to

two sources, are quite skeptical that those talks are going to actually pull off anything that would actually be of substance here and can stave

off these attacks.

So, it's very clear that Israel is positioning itself to be prepared should President Trump actually greenlight joint U.S.-Israel action here. One of

the sources, the Israeli sources who spoke with our colleague Tal Shalev, said that the prospective operation that could be carried out would be

longer than the 12 day war that we saw carried out just last June.

So, it's clear that this is a major military operation that is being considered and planned for right now. We have discussed that the U.S.

military buildup is there. There's a second U.S. military aircraft carrier that's going to be arriving to the region in the coming days. And, of

course, following those U.S.-Iran talks earlier this week, the U.S. side said that they expect Iran to come back to the table with some proposals

that address the gaps between the U.S. and Iran that exist right now. They said they expect those proposals sometime in the next two weeks.

So we're really getting down to the wire here when it comes to whether or not U.S. officials are going to judge that Iran could actually make a deal

or whether or not President Trump gives a green light to potential action militarily against Iran.

FOSTER: Yeah. Okay, Kylie, thank you so much for that.

Also in Geneva, two days of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. have ended with a peace deal no closer in sight. A Russian state media says

Moscow's top negotiator held a closed door meeting with the Ukrainian side after the end of the official talks. The formal discussions were described

by both Moscow and Kyiv as being difficult, though the Ukrainian side says progress was made.

Fred Pleitgen breaks it all down for us from Geneva.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tough trilateral talks to try and end the war between Russia and Ukraine have

come to an end here in Geneva, but it's unclear how much progress was actually achieved. Now, the way that these talks worked is that at the

beginning, there was one big meeting with all the delegations, the United States, the Russians and the Ukrainians. But they then later broke into

smaller working groups, some dealing with political questions, others dealing with military technical questions.

Now, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he came out and he said the going was very tough, especially in the political level. But as far as

military technical questions were concerned, apparently there was some progress and a member of the Ukrainian delegation confirmed the same thing

to us here as well.

Now, at the end of the talks both the leaders of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations came forward separately and each spoke about how difficult the

going has been.

VLADIMIR MEDINSKY, RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL AIDE (through translator): As you know, the negotiations lasted two days for a very long time yesterday in

various formats, and also about two hours today. They were difficult but businesslike. The next meeting will take place soon. That's all we wanted

to say. Thank you.

RUSTEM UMEROV, SECRETARY, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE & SECURITY COUNCIL: There is progress, but no details can be disclosed at this stage. The next step is

to achieve the necessary level of consensus to submit the developed decisions for consideration by the presidents. Our task is to prepare a

practical not merely formal, foundation for this, Ukraine remains constructive the ultimate objective is unchanged a just and sustainable

peace.

PLEITGEN: One of the toughest issues that the delegations are dealing with here and in general, in these talks between the Russians and the

Ukrainians, is the question of territorial concessions. The Ukrainians might have to make as part of any peace agreement.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came out and said that, quite frankly, the Ukrainians cannot be asked to give up the rest of the Donetsk

territory of Ukraine.

[15:10:05]

That's a territory that's mostly held by Russia now. But with Ukrainians still hold key towns and where there's also some very important Ukrainian

defensive lines as well. Zelenskyy saying that he would never be forgiven, the U.S. would never be forgiven if Ukrainian soldiers had to pull back

from those territories as part of any peace agreement.

In general, the question of territories has been one that all sides acknowledge make it extremely difficult to make substantial progress.

Nevertheless, all sides say they want to continue the talks as soon as possible.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Geneva, Switzerland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Eight people are dead, one missing after an avalanche buried skiers in northern California. Six people were rescued amid extreme

blizzard conditions near Lake Tahoe. The area is still getting pounded by more snow. The group had been on a three-day guided backcountry ski trip in

pretty rugged terrain. Local police gave an update a short while ago in an emotional press conference

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF SHANNAN MOON, NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: We were able to rescue one man and five women. So the survivors ranging in ages from 30 to 55

years of age. Eight of the additional nine additional skiers have been located, deceased. We are still looking for one of the members at this

time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Stephanie Elam joins us from Los Angeles.

It's been difficult getting information, Stephanie, isn't it because of the conditions out there.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not only is it super remote, Max, but this storm has been just a beast and it is still ongoing. We knew about

this even on Friday. The National Weather Service was warning that this was going to be a massive storm that would be measuring feet of snow that were

dropped, not inches. So, this group went out on Sunday and they were making their way back yesterday when this avalanche was triggered.

Now, what we understand is that one guide and five of their customers on this guided tour were the six people who were rescued. Two of those people

had to be hospitalized. They were not able to walk out on their own power. One was treated and released last night. The other one is expected to make

a full recovery as well.

However, when the rescuers were able to get to them, it was 11 hours after they had first been alerted to the fact that there had been an avalanche

which they said in this press conference was because someone in the party at least had an iPhone SOS, and that's how they had limited texting

capabilities with those responders. They were able to take a ski mobile out to the area, and then were able to get on skis to get closer because they

didn't want to trigger another part of the avalanche they said when they got to those six people who had survived and they had put up a tarp to

protect themselves from the element elements there, they were able to tell them that they were on their own, had discovered three of their other

people in this group who had lost their lives.

They were able to get them out. The rescuers did go back in remember, this was after dark when they were doing this, and they were able to discern

that there were eight people there that had passed away. They said there were seven females and two men. Now that one person is still missing. And

what was notable in this press conference is that they also said that it was a spouse of a Tahoe Nordic search and rescue, which is a part of the

groups that are out there doing this rescue right now.

Now, those eight people that lost their lives are still out there because the snow is just treacherous. They said that this was the second highest

level of avalanche threats that they were up against in this snowstorm, which is just leaving whiteout conditions, has really shut down the area

even a major thoroughfare that goes through there and interstate has been shut down because of this.

But what we do know, according to the officials, the bodies that were found were found fairly close together and fairly close to where those six people

had been rescued. And it's worth noting, Max, just on some reporting that I've done in the past on avalanches, if the people that you are with can't

get to you, the chances of you surviving are very slim.

Most people, 90 percent of people will survive if they're out, pulled out within 15 minutes, but it goes down. If it's over two hours, most people

don't make it. And that's what we're seeing here. This is the deadliest avalanche in the United States since 1981.

FOSTER: Yeah. Absolutely tragic. Stephanie, thank you.

As Cuba runs out of oil under crippling U.S. blockade, the Kremlin is extending a helping hand. Moscow says it opposes the blockade and that they

will provide, quote, "appropriate assistance". Earlier this month, the Cuban deputy foreign minister told CNN the government is ready for

meaningful dialogue with the U.S., though talks about regime change are off the table.

[15:15:04]

Patrick Oppmann is in Cuba and gives us a closer look at the worsening fuel crisis from the streets of Havana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Owning a classic car in Cuba used to be a gold mine. Until recently, Mandy Pruna (ph) earned more

from one hour driving tourists in his vintage 1957 Chevrolet than most Cubans do in a month. But he's no longer able to make a living.

Just before taking me out for a spin, Mandy canceled his permit to work as a chauffeur.

"Everything is uncertain at the moment," he says. "There's no fuel. We don't know if there will be any and how we will pay for it. There's no

tourism."

Cuba is becoming an increasingly paralyzed country as the Trump administration's policy of blocking oil shipments from abroad cripples an

already ailing economy, where just weeks ago, cars lined up for hours at the pump. Now there's no one because there's no longer any gas. Each day,

public transportation is harder to find, many switch to bicycles.

OPPMANN: When I first came to Cuba, the Soviet Union had just fallen into more bikes on the road than there were cars. As this crisis goes on, it

feels more and more like we're returning to those times.

OPPMANN (voice-over): The White House is strong arming Cuba's communist- run government to open politically and economically in exchange for the fuel shipments to resume. Cubans are seeing food prices soar as the crisis

drags on.

"We are paying two, three times as much to restock and keep people happy," a vendor tells me. "There's no food". And there's no immediate solution in

sight.

OPPMANN: This is the kind of place that I buy vegetables for my family, and most of the products are coming from outside of Havana. Transporting

them from the countryside is going to get more difficult, if not impossible.

Cuban officials have responded by saying people need to start growing their own food.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Cuba may just be weeks or perhaps days away from running out of fuel. A humanitarian disaster could be on the horizon.

Already, many fishing boats sit idle.

"One can't work. The country is stuck. There's no industry. Nothing is happening," this fisherman tells me. "And we'll see how this ends."

Until then, the best many Cubans can hope for is to stay afloat as their country goes under.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Coming up, the United States has been vocal about wanting to take Greenland from the Danish. Does it want to take some of Denmark's health

policies, too? Sanjay Gupta's report from Copenhagen, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:48]

FOSTER: In a controversial shift earlier this year, U.S. health officials slashed the childhood vaccine schedule from 17 vaccines to just 11. They're

taking inspiration from Denmark's approach.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta went to Copenhagen to find out why some Americans think Denmark's model is worth following.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Denmark has long recommended fewer childhood vaccines than the United States.

Babies here leave the hospital without any shots. By the time they're 12 years old. Most Danish children have received vaccines against 10 diseases.

Now compare that to the United States. Until recently, American officials recommended children get vaccinated for 17 diseases. Now, six of those are

still available but no longer recommended. Hepatitis A and B, meningitis, rotavirus, flu and COVID 19.

Some of those, like hepatitis B, are still a serious threat in certain parts of the United States. But not so much in Denmark. About six in every

100,000 Americans are diagnosed every year with chronic hepatitis B. Compare that to less than two per 100,000 in Denmark. That means around

18,000 Americans diagnosed every year, compared to about 100 in Denmark.

GUPTA: So, this is a referral hospital.

DR. JENS LUNDGREN, PROFESSOR OF VIRAL DISEASES, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN: That's right.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Jens Lundgren is a specialist in infectious diseases. He sits on the panel that decides which vaccines to give

Denmark's children.

GUPTA: Did it surprise you when you heard that the United States is trying to emulate their vaccine schedule on Denmark?

LUNDGREN: Yeah, I certainly didn't see that coming. You cannot just take what has been carefully thought through in one geographical location. And

just extrapolate that and generalize that

GUPTA: I think part of the reason that they emulate Denmark is because Denmark has the fewest vaccines on the schedule.

LUNDGREN: But you see, that's not a good argument, right? So, why do you want to condense your vaccine program against the fewest vaccine? You want

to have the right vaccines for the public health that you have in your population.

GUPTA: You believe these vaccines that were talking about on the childhood vaccine schedule, you believe they are safe and effective.

LUNDGREN: Correct.

GUPTA: That's not the concern.

LUNDGREN: That's not the debate here.

GUPTA: So, what is it fundamentally about?

LUNDGREN: We have come to realize after have made some mistakes also early on in in how the vaccine program that its entirely based on trust. The

trust. The trust, parents need to trust when we come with a new vaccine into the program, they need to trust that that's -- that's very sensible to

do, and they would therefore adhere to that.

GUPTA (voice-over): Lundgren and his colleagues are now considering adding another vaccine, the one for chickenpox. Most Danes trust their government.

Of the world's most advanced economies, it ranks near the top. And here's the United States, dead last, just 28 percent of Americans trust the

government.

Danish trust in government goes far beyond vaccines. Even after parents leave the hospital, child rearing looks a whole lot different here.

GUPTA: I want to show you something pretty extraordinary. We've come to visit two-and-a-half-month-old Esther (ph). Of course, we expected to find

her inside the house, given how cold it is. But instead, here she is in a stroller outside. Freezing cold temperatures.

GUPTA (voice-over): You'll see this everywhere in Denmark. Parents swear by the fresh air for their heavily swaddled babies. The family is waiting

for a home health nurse to arrive, who will come free of charge five to six times during the baby's first year of life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you're so strong. Should we start by weighing you, or should we start by measuring you? Oh, am I getting a smile?

GUPTA: What I'm struck by is Denmark is so different than the United States. You're here. Parental leave, nationalized health care system.

KENNETH SEJR HANSEN, FATHER OF THREE: Obviously, there's a lot of people in the U.S. who are not that fond of the government, actually running

anything at all.

EDITH MARIE NEILSEN, MOTHER OF THREE: It's two completely different countries, right?

[15:25:03]

And it's run differently, and politically, governmentally, but I would want for the people in U.S. to have some of the benefits that we experience

because I do believe it benefits me as a -- as a parent. I believe it works. So, I basically trust the system, right that they have decided it

for me and it works.

GUPTA (voice-over): Vaccination isn't the only reason that outbreaks are less common here in Denmark. The National Serum Institute, or SSI here in

Copenhagen, keeps meticulous medical records of all Danish citizens, helping them track illnesses to help predict and even prevent outbreaks.

GUPTA: What makes Denmark's superpower this data tracking?

LONE SIMONSEN, PROFESSOR OF POPULATION HEALTH SCIENCES, ROSKILDE UNIVERSITY: Whenever someone is tested for something it goes into one

database. Whenever someone is vaccinated, it goes into one database. It doesn't go to all kinds of places. It's one place, and then it's quite

doable to link all this together.

GUPTA (voice-over): Americans might be uncomfortable with that level of tracking, but it is one of the many factors that makes the Danish system

work. It's easy to see reflections of the MAHA movement here. Danes emphasize personal health to ward off disease, and they are skeptical of

too much medical intervention.

But the success of the Danish system is based on so much more than the number of vaccines parents give their children. Nationalized health care,

high trust and a lot of strong co-dependence on one another.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Copenhagen, Denmark.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The U.S. health secretary's slightly unconventional approach to health care messaging was on full display on social media on Tuesday. Here

is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. doing a topless workout with Kid Rock before jumping into an ice bath while still wearing his jeans. This was all posted

on his official account, urging Americans to, quote, "get active and eat real food".

There are some serious shakeups happening on his watch. However, we just learned the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is getting its third new

director since Kennedy took charge. The head of the National Institutes of Health, who was a firm opponent of COVID lockdowns, will now run the CDC on

a temporary basis.

Next, Stephen Colbert's bashing of his bosses at CBS. The late night host is not backing down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:48]

FOSTER: Let's return to our top story. Mark Zuckerberg testifying in a groundbreaking trial about social media addiction. The Meta's -- the Meta

CEO, is being grilled about whether his companies set goals for how much time young children spend on social media. Both Meta and YouTube are being

sued by a 20-year-old woman who claims she started using social media when she was younger than 10. At one point, the woman's lawyer asked Zuckerberg

if he expected a nine-year-old to understand terms and conditions document.

Now, members of her parents' group have just been speaking outside the courtroom in Los Angeles. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIANNA ARNOLD, COFOUNDER, PARENTS RISE: Today was the most important day for us to understand the truth of what happened and what was known about

the harms to our children and other children, and that they were purposefully and intentionally -- intentional decisions that were made to

not change their platforms or make safety features available when they knew they had harms on their platform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So, here is how a Meta spokesperson described the trial earlier. The question for the jury in Los Angeles is whether Instagram was a

substantial factor in the plaintiff's mental health struggles. The evidence will show she faced many significant, difficult challenges well before she

ever used social media. So, what we want to know is will Mark Zuckerberg's testimony help Meta's defense?

Joining me now is Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower and now social media accountability advocate.

Thank you so much for speaking to us.

I mean, when the defense speak about the issues they had. Do you recognize some of that from the time that you worked at Meta?

FRANCES HAUGEN, DATA SCIENTIST & SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY ADVOCATE: It's always been the position of the company that the good that the company

produces is so much more than the bad that we should focus on the good. And, you know, give them a pass on the bad part. But the core point in this

case is that for a lot of the worst harms, the company knew how to prevent them they had the resources to do so. They ran the experiments to get the

proof, and they chose not to do it because they made more money keeping the product in its original form.

FOSTER: So, when they started asking users to give their ages the company argues there were some privacy issues around that. They eventually settled

on asking, but as on the other side says, you know, do you really expect a 13-year-old to read through all those terms and conditions and actually not

lie?

HAUGEN: That's one of the things that's kind of amazing when you think about this case. Instagram specifically did not ask anyone for their age

when they signed up until, I believe, 2021, even though the product had been on the market for that point for a decade. A common thing we're seeing

over and over again is that safety features don't get launched until the company experiences heat. So, a lot of the things they're bragging about

today, they only launched right before Australia announced they were going to work to ban the platform for under 16.

FOSTER: Yeah, and in terms of you know, the core of their case, which is that this case they're not responsible for because many of the issues this

lady had came before she started using social media. But you know I wonder if they're not really, you know dismissing that, they're saying that social

media made it worse.

HAUGEN: So if we look at the history of cases like this, so we're talking about things like the opiates lawsuit or the tobacco lawsuit in the United

States, those defendants also said these people had other factors in their lives that could have contributed to their lung cancer or could attribute

it to their addiction.

The question here is whether or not, one did Facebook lie about whether or not these products were safe when they knew that there were harms going on?

But the second is what role did it play in harming this child?

You know, she joins when she's nine years old. In the case of other children who have had investigations like this, say Molly Russell in the

U.K., who was the first coroner's case, the first lawsuit to show that the -- that Instagram is responsible for her death, half of her feed was full

of self-harm content by the time she died.

That's the kind of things that these children are experiencing no matter what circumstances they're coming to the platform with.

FOSTER: An interesting other core element of this debate is whether or not the company, you know, the mission was to keep people on the platform for

as long as possible. You know, to get the retention up.

I think Mark Zuckerberg admitted that was the case for a while, but now it's about value. You know, what do you think of that argument?

HAUGEN: The scope of time that this lawsuit is covering is, is quite a long period of time. You know, some of these kids join the platform a

decade ago. The question is, just because in the wake of things like Australia banning social media for under 16, the company allegedly has

changed how it sets goals.

We don't know for certain. We don't have legal rights to get those operational details from inside this for-profit company. But one question

is if they knew that there were dangers, if they knew that optimizing just for time led to bad decisions like they ran experiments to stop showing

notifications to children at 11:00, 12:00 at night. Guess what? When you stop showing notifications, people do use the product, teenage children

sleep better. If you knew that kind of way of making decisions led to consequences like that, shouldn't you have changed your behavior five or 10

years ago?

FOSTER: Well, it's a fascinating case, isn't it? Because it does sound like they're getting to the bottom of some core issues that we've been

concerned about for a while.

Frances Haugen, really appreciate you joining us today.

Now, U.S. lawmakers are promising to follow the money as they grill a billionaire who played a key role in Jeffrey Epstein's rise to extreme

wealth. Leslie Wexner was deposed behind closed doors today. He's the former owner of Victoria's Secret who gave Epstein power of attorney over

his finances. Wexner says he was conned by the late sex offender, denying knowledge of his crimes. One lawmaker says he gave Epstein about a billion

dollars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): And we should be very clear that there would be no Epstein island, there would be no Epstein plane, there would be no money

to traffic women and girls -- Mr. Epstein would not be the wealthy man he was without the support of Les Wexner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, it's the final moments of trade on Wall Street. Stocks are up today. The Dow up ever so slightly. As you can see, tech stocks have

been bigger gainers really, after some recent heavy selling.

This is our Business Breakout.

Microsoft says it will invest $50 billion by the end of this decade to bring artificial intelligence to developing countries. The company's

president says the world needs to act with urgency to address the growing A.I. divide between rich and poor nations.

Whilst A.I. is said to be increasing productivity in the workforce, the director of the National Economic Council says it could be a problem for

college graduates. Kevin Hassett saying more productive workers could mean fewer new workers are needed.

And finally, Moderna stocks are up today on the heels of the pharmaceutical company's latest announcement. It says the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration reversed course and will now review their first mRNA flu vaccine. If approved, it could be available for the 2026, 2027 flu season

for those 50 and older.

Now, Stephen Colbert is escalating his battle with his bosses at CBS over an interview with the Texas Democrat. Colbert claimed on Monday that

company lawyers had forced him to put the interview online instead of on his show because of equal time rules. CBS came out with its own statement

the next day, claiming they had given legal guidance but not prohibited the interview from running.

That statement did not go down well with Colbert on Tuesday night's show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE LATE SHOW" HOST: And for the lawyers to release this without even talking to me is really surprising. I don't even know what to

do with this crap. Hold on.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: All this comes as the Trump administration signals it's about to get tougher on political broadcasts in the United States as Brian Stelter

reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Hey, Max. Yeah, Trump FCC Chair Brendan Carr confirmed today that he intends to aggressively enforce these

equal time rules across the board. I've been in touch with Carr, and I think it's pretty clear what's going on here.

Carr has relatively little power, very few tools in his toolbox when it comes to regulating the wide world of media. But one of the tools he does

have is this equal time provision that dates back to 1927, from the very dawn of the radio and television age.

[15:40:06]

This rule was meant to ensure, and still is today meant to ensure, that candidates for public office in the U.S. get a fair shake. That if one

candidate gets airtime on a local station, then the rival candidate can request the same kind of airtime. These rules have largely -- they exist,

but they've rarely been enforced in recent decades.

And there have been many exceptions to these rules for newscasts and in recent decades for late night talk shows and daytime shows. What Carr is

saying today is that those exceptions that were thought to exist for late night and for daytime, that they don't exist, and that stations should

expect to be investigated or be pursued if the FCC believes they're violating the rules.

This, of course, has political and partisan overtones, given that President Trump has been so vocally critical of comedians like ABC's Jimmy Kimmel and

Stephen Colbert of CBS. Colbert and Kimmel have been equally critical of Trump. This war of words has been going on for a decade. The difference now

is that Trump's FCC is using a tool in the toolbox to try to pressure these stations, to try to pressure these networks.

Carr confirmed today that the FCC does have an open investigation into ABC's "The View", the daytime talk show. Carr called it an enforcement

action, which is the legal term for it, but legal experts tell me this probably won't amount to much. The FCC has little enforcement power. It

could make ABC pay a fine but ABC's parent company Disney, can certainly afford any fine.

So, you have this tug of war that's continuing, and Colbert is an example right now. This week, his interview with James Talarico was not aired on

broadcast, but it has gained millions of views on YouTube. And today, Talarico came out and said his campaign broke a single day fundraising

record on Tuesday, making about $2.5 million from donors, almost entirely thanks to all this controversy about Colbert.

So for every action, there is a counter-reaction. Weve seen that time and time again when it comes to the Trump administration and attempts to curb

critical speech.

Max, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Thank you to Brian.

Still to come, allegations of racist abuse in Tuesday's Champions League match between Real Madrid and Benfica. The details after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:23]

FOSTER: UEFA Europe's football governing body has opened an investigation into alleged racist abuse in Tuesday's match between Real Madrid and

Benfica. The match was halted for almost ten minutes after Real Madrid's Vini Junior accused Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni of racially insulting

him. Prestianni and his team, his club, have denied those allegations.

Don Riddell is with me more.

This is really, really blowing up.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Absolutely. And in the moment, Max, we knew that this was a really, really big deal. Vinicius Junior has made it clear

in recent times that he suffers racist abuse a lot from opposing players and fans, and he's simply not going to take it this is, I believe, the 20th

time he's been on the receiving end of alleged racist abuse.

He spoke about it on social media afterwards, saying racists are above all cowards. They put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are,

but they have the protection of others who theoretically have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or in my

team's life.

Vini's teammate Kylian Mbappe said that he heard Gianluca Prestianni calling Vini Junior a monkey five times.

Now, Prestianni has denied these allegations. He took to social media after the game to say, "At no point did I direct racist insults at the player.

Vinicius Junior, who unfortunately misinterpreted what he thought he heard. I've never been racist towards anyone, and I regret the threats I received

from Real Madrid players and everyone pointing fingers at me for covering up with my shirt when they know that all soccer players cover their mouths

to talk. Don't try to make up more."

If he's found guilty by UEFA, he could be looking at a 10-game ban.

For his part, the Benfica manager Jose Mourinho has also weighed into this and there was an element of victim blaming. He seemed to suggest that

Vinicius Junior if he'd celebrated in a different way perhaps, we would be talking about something different. But he said, you should celebrate

respectfully in front of the home fans, and he also brought the football great Eusebio into the story. He is one of the world's most famous ever

players from a past generation, I should say.

But Mourinho basically saying Benfica is the club of Eusebio. We can't possibly be a racist club. So, that to a lot of people doesn't make any

sense. This has blown up and it's not the end of it because apart from any other reason, they're going to play again in the second leg next week.

FOSTER: Yeah. Exactly. Don, appreciate it. Thank you.

RIDDELL: All right.

FOSTER: Still to come a shark sighting in the last place scientists expected to see one will speak to one of the researchers about this amazing

discovery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:48]

FOSTER: An incredible deep sea discovery in the waters of the Antarctic Ocean. Scientists caught video of a sleeper shark more than 490 meters, or

1,600 feet underwater. They were off the coast of the South Shetland Islands.

Before this sighting, many experts didn't think sharks could exist in the cold Antarctica water. The water temperature at the time of the sighting

was near freezing at one degree Celsius or 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

What we don't know is, why have sharks appeared in Antarctic waters?

Joining me now, Neil Hammerschlag, the executive director of the Shark Research Foundation.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I mean, I wonder if they were always there. I mean, what's your theory?

DR. NEIL HAMMERSCHLAG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SHARK RESEARCH FOUNDATION: I think it's happening is, you know, due to climate change, the waters are

warming. And I think it's they're becoming just a little bit more prevalent. But it's the deep sea, and we know so little about it,

especially in Antarctica.

FOSTER: So what do we know about this moment where we saw the photograph and the reaction of everyone involved?

HAMMERSCHLAG: Well, you know, I wasn't there but what I can tell you is, as a researcher, if I would have seen that show up on my underwater

cameras, I would have been like, absolutely. Not. Only shocked, amazed and just extremely excited about making a big discovery like that.

FOSTER: How are they surviving there?

HAMMERSCHLAG: Well -- I mean, these sharks, the sleeper sharks are species that are known to occur in deep water, especially in cold waters but not in

the Antarctic, really. I mean, much further north. Not in like that Southern Ocean. So, you know and not as close to Antarctica as this as this

shark showed up.

So, they do occur, they just -- instead of being fast moving, they just -- they kind of survive by having a very sluggish lifestyle. And they don't

and they really rely on scavenging things that die and fall down to the bottom.

FOSTER: Presumably, those things falling down are different there than they are in other oceans they operate in. So, it's going to -- it's going

to have some sort of effect.

HAMMERSCHLAG: Yeah. Well, I mean -- I think it to some degree, you know, there's -- it's carrion like, you know, things that die like whales, things

like that that float to the bottom. They will scavenge in.

But I think this is an important thing, you know as a -- as a -- as an important large predator. They play roles in, in they can influence the

ecosystem and the species that occur there and so I think, you know, as we this -- you know, the Antarctic Oceans warm and potentially new species

arrive, then it can, you know, potentially disrupt the food web.

FOSTER: Because they're quite barren sea beds, aren't they? I mean, traditionally, if I can call it that, that might change as well. I mean,

the ocean --

HAMMERSCHLAG: Other places for sure.

FOSTER: Yeah

HAMMERSCHLAG: Yeah, I would say compared to other places, you know because it is so cold. It's so dark you know, and very strong currents, there's not

a lot that occurs there compared to, you know, more other temperate areas.

FOSTER: Okay. Neil Hammerschlag, that's the video. And it's an amazing moment. And thank you for sharing your insights into what we saw there.

Now, incredible footage also of an avalanche crashing down on a train in Switzerland. The video was captured by a passenger on Tuesday. There were

no reported injuries. Just so you know but here's the scary moment. The avalanche hit the train.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FOSTER: I always find it amazing people just carry on filming.

But an avalanche could be responsible for another train incident in Switzerland. On Monday, five people were injured in a derailment much more

serious there. So, Swiss authorities said an avalanche may have crossed the track shortly before that train passed. We've seen a lot of avalanches

recently.

And finally this hour, there was a welcome addition to the finish of today's women's cross country skiing team sprint free race.

[15:55:01]

A dog joined the athletes for the final sprint of the race. Footage showed the happy looking pup running behind two skiers, with a crowd cheering as

it crossed the finish line. He was then shown sniffing at the competition, with skiers looking somewhat confused by the situation.

Sweden's gold medalist Maher Dahlkvist said she was as surprised as everyone else that it was something that she had never seen before. They

didn't give a dog a medal, doesn't appear.

I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Do stay with CNN.

END

TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS