Table of Contents
Good morning. You are studying the Up First publication. Subscribe right here to get it delivered to your inbox, and pay attention to the Up First podcast for all of the information you should begin your day.
At present’s prime tales
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take the stand in Los Angeles in the present day in a trial that would reshape social media. The plaintiffs are accusing platforms like Instagram and Fb of being deliberately designed to hook youngsters, sparking a nationwide youth psychological well being disaster. The case hinges on whether or not the tech corporations engineer “faulty merchandise” to use vulnerabilities in younger individuals’s brains.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify Wednesday in a significant lawsuit towards social media corporations that claims their merchandise are faulty and dangerous to kids.
Nic Coury/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Nic Coury/AP
- 🎧 For years, social media corporations have prevented authorized penalties through the use of a authorized defend often known as Part 230 of the Communications Decency Act, NPR’s Bobby Allyn says. The legislation protects on-line platforms from legal responsibility for user-generated content material by treating websites as intermediaries reasonably than publishers. Now, attorneys are suing the tech corporations beneath product legal responsibility legal guidelines. They argue that the platforms are primarily faulty merchandise due to options equivalent to infinite scroll and autoplay. The plaintiffs say that the social media websites’ influence on kids’s brains is much like that of a slot machine and that the businesses ought to be held accountable. If the jury sides with the plaintiffs, the case might end in a multi-billion-dollar settlement and important modifications to social media apps’ operations.
Tricia McLaughlin, the general public face of the Trump administration’s mass deportation insurance policies, is leaving the Division of Homeland Safety. The company confirmed her exit yesterday from her function because the DHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs. McLaughlin’s departure comes because the company is shut down after lawmakers didn’t go a finances to fund it by way of the top of the fiscal 12 months.
The U.S. and Iran have dedicated to additional negotiations after representatives from the 2 international locations held oblique talks in Geneva this week. Each events stated they might meet once more to aim to achieve a deal on Iran’s nuclear program. The Trump administration desires Iran to haven’t any nuclear weapons and 0 enrichment. Iran insists it has the correct to complement uranium for analysis and civilian utilization.
- 🎧 The following assembly is anticipated to be in a few weeks, NPR’s Jackie Northam says. Iran’s overseas minister, Abbas Araghchi, stated yesterday’s assembly was constructive and negotiators made some progress. Nevertheless, Araghchi added that there’s nonetheless extra work to be completed earlier than the 2 international locations meet once more.
Warner Bros. Discovery has given CBS’ guardian firm, Paramount Skydance, one final probability to sweeten its bid towards Netflix for the corporate. The information comes as Anderson Cooper introduced his departure from 60 Minutes after practically twenty years as a correspondent. Stephen Colbert additionally lately accused CBS of blocking an interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico from airing on TV.
- 🎧 The current headlines shouldn’t be seen as separate incidents, NPR’s David Folkenflik tells Up First. The Ellison household, who’re behind Paramount, is near President Trump and desires to remain on his good facet. The household’s connection to the president has formed selections surrounding the corporate’s information division. A type of selections is the community’s current choose for CBS Information’ editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss. She got here to CBS with the proposition that the mainstream media is just too woke and anti-Trump, Folkenflik says. He provides that lots of her selections have been unwelcome by the journalists at CBS. Cooper says he’s leaving the present to spend extra time along with his kids. NPR spoke to a few associates, who usually are not licensed to debate what is going on inside CBS, who say Cooper has additionally expressed considerations about Weiss’ management.
Deep dive
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Metropolitan Police Division (MPD), Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers search the within of a automotive throughout a site visitors cease on Aug.14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Whereas D.C. does not have a 287(g) settlement, MPD officers can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement businesses.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Photographs/Getty Photographs North America
disguise caption
toggle caption
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Photographs/Getty Photographs North America
President Trump’s second time period has seen a dramatic enlargement of federal immigration enforcement, pushed by a program that deputizes native police to implement immigration legal guidelines. The expansion of the 287(g) program is without doubt one of the most seen shifts in Trump’s immigration technique. In 2019, throughout Trump’s first time period, native police businesses signed simply 45 of those 287(g) agreements. As of Feb. 13, ICE reported 1,412 energetic agreements throughout 40 states and territories — signing over 1,130 of them in 2025 alone. Here is a take a look at how this system works:
- ➡️ The jail enforcement mannequin of this system includes native authorities checking everybody coming into jail with prison convictions or pending fees for authorized U.S. standing. If they’re within the nation illegally, ICE might be notified, and they are going to be held in jail pending ICE removing.
- ➡️ The warrant service officer mannequin, equally to the jail enforcement mannequin, permits police to execute administrative warrants on migrants of their jails.
- ➡️ The duty drive mannequin of this system permits officers to cease, query and make arrests for immigration violations. This mannequin makes up nearly all of 287(g) agreements in place, in line with ICE information.
- ➡️ The Division of Homeland Safety says process drive mannequin coaching contains 40 hours of schooling on immigration legislation, ICE’s Use of Pressure coverage, civil rights legislation and extra. Beforehand, native police wanted a couple of month of coaching to acquire certification.
Life recommendation
There are occasions if you meet somebody and the dialog simply flows, and also you wish to know extra about them. Then you definately would possibly say, “We must always get collectively someday.” This assertion could be imprecise. Kat Vellos, writer of We Ought to Get Collectively: The Secret to Cultivating Higher Friendships, says one of the best factor you are able to do is schedule an precise time to hang around. In a dialog with Life Package, she shared some perception on find out how to flip a stranger right into a pal:
- 🫂 The spark can fizzle out when you wait too lengthy to see the particular person once more. Analysis reveals that when you spend quite a lot of time collectively initially of the connection, it’s extra more likely to stick.
- 🫂 Strive choosing a memorable exercise you are able to do collectively. Doing one thing out of the extraordinary offers you each a reminiscence you may share.
- 🫂 Bear in mind, it’s OK that this particular person won’t be your bestie. There are totally different ranges of friendship. You may additionally determine it’s best for you each to be strangers.
For tips about find out how to make a friendship stick, hearken to this episode of NPR’s Life Package. Subscribe to the Life Package publication for knowledgeable recommendation on love, cash, relationships and extra.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
Adeliia Petrosian of Particular person Impartial Athletes competes through the girls’s brief program determine skating on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
Ashley Landis/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Ashley Landis/AP
- Uncommon athleticism and nationwide delight outline the Olympics. Because the Video games conclude in just some days, NPR’s Phrase of the Week appears on the origins of the time period “Olympics.”
- Authorities have rescued six backcountry skiers who survived an avalanche that occurred yesterday within the Fort Peak space close to Truckee, Calif., in line with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Workplace. Emergency responders are nonetheless looking for a number of others. (through CapRadio)
- The DNA from the glove discovered close to Nancy Guthrie’s home didn’t match any of the greater than 26 million individuals within the CODIS system, the Pima County Sheriff’s Division introduced yesterday.
This text was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
