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FTC Seeks To Break Up Meta's "Monopoly" In Landmark anti-Trust Trial; Trump Slams "60 Minutes," Says CBS Should "Lose Its License"; Small Businesses In The U.S. Feel Impacts Of Trump's China Tariffs; Watchdog: Rideshare, Delivery Driver Accounts For Sale On Social Media. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 14, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:32:16]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: A landmark federal anti-trust trial now underway with billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, the star witness in this case, taking the stand on the first day. It's a case that could reshape the media landscape really as we know it.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes. The U.S. is accusing Zuckerberg's company, Meta, of illegally building a social network monopoly through years of, quote, "anticompetitive conduct."

Meta owns some of the biggest and most dominant social media apps in the world, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Let's discuss with Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media analyst.

So, Brian, put this into context for us. What's at stake for Meta and for Zuckerberg?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: This case is almost five years in the making. Some people wondered if it would ever actually get to trial. And now, finally, today, it has reached a judge in Washington.

The big surprise is that Zuckerberg, the star witness, is also the first witness. He's going to be on the stand for hours. He's just started speaking.

And according to our reporter at the courthouse, he's just going through the history of Facebook and how the company has expanded over the years.

One of the biggest ways that Facebook expanded was buying up exciting new apps, namely Instagram and WhatsApp. Those deals were approved at the time, about a decade ago.

But now, in light of the concentration of the social media world, these government lawyers have brought this case, which was originally hatched under Trump's first term in office.

They brought this case alleging that Facebook is a monopoly and that it's using anti-competitive practices. Meta, which, of course, is the new corporate name of Facebook, says that's nonsense.

But this trial is going to go on for several weeks. Actually seven to eight weeks. And it all starts with Zuckerberg testifying right now.

DEAN: And, Brian, Zuckerberg has worked pretty hard to forge a relationship and alliance, even if you want to call it that, with President Trump to curry favor, is it possible the president, his administration steps in and intervenes?

STELTER: It is very possible. That is the big X factor of this story. President Trump this time last year was criticizing Zuckerberg, referring to thinking about jail time for Zuckerberg in the future.

But ever since Election Day, Zuckerberg has bent over backwards to curry favor with the president. He was even at the White House earlier this month, and there were reports he was lobbying Trump to get this case either resolved or settled in some fashion.

After all, this is Trump's FTC that is bringing the lawsuit. Trump recently fired two of the -- two Democrats on the FTC, a move that was said to be illegal.

So there's this question about whether Trump will try to intervene in some fashion, which historically never would have happened before Trump. We wouldn't be talking about this.

But because Trump is so transactional and has been engaging in so many of these sorts of actions, that is a big, open question.

Meanwhile, look at what Meta's statement is about this lawsuit saying that it should be -- should be rejected by the judge.

[14:34:59]

Meta is using Trump-friendly language, saying, quote, "Regulators should be supporting American innovation rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like A.I."

I would say Meta has pressed all the buttons it can trying to appeal to Trump but, so far, he has not taken any action that we know of to stop this case.

SANCHEZ: To your point, Brian, about Trump seeming to try to want to shape social media or media in general, he's renewing this push to punish --

STELTER: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- "60 Minutes," the CBS program, after they aired more segments critical of his administration. Tell us more about that.

STELTER: This is an important story today. This is retribution in action. You know, last week, Trump ordered his Justice Department to investigate two critics of his. Now he's urging his FCC to punish CBS to the greatest extent possible. The FCC is a normally sleepy agency that licenses TV stations and

makes sure cell phones work. Trump, in this post overnight, after watching "60 Minutes" and getting angry at "60 Minutes," he even gave a shout out to the man he promoted to run the FCC, Brendan Carr.

In this angry post about "60 Minutes," Trump basically said that the network is doing something illegal without providing any evidence for that whatsoever.

We know that Trump has been involved in a lawsuit against CBS, a frivolous lawsuit against its parent company over a "60 Minutes" segment last fall. So we see Trump using all these different pressure points against news outlets he doesn't like.

Now, I asked Brendan Carr for comment about this. Is he going to do something in response to Trump's post urging him to take action? Carr has not responded.

But he has been incredibly loyal to Trump in recent months. And last week, Carr was photographed wearing a gold pin of Trump's face.

Now, it is notable that, in the last few months, the FCC has opened several probes into media outlets that Trump dislikes. The FCCs power here is usually pretty limited.

Trump is saying CBS should lose its license, claiming that they've done something illegal. But normally, TV station licenses are not politicized.

We're in very unusual waters here, with Trump trying to punish a network for, for -- for news coverage that he does not like.

But that pending lawsuit is something to pay attention to. CBS executives have tried to settle the matter, and that could ultimately be what happens here. Although "60 Minutes" journalists don't want that to happen because they've done nothing wrong.

SANCHEZ: We'll see how these lawsuits turn out.

Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

Coming up, El Salvador's president and the Trump administration say neither of them can send a Maryland man mistakenly deported and imprisoned in El Salvador back to the United States. We'll discuss.

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[14:42:04]

DEAN: President Trump's trade war with China is not only impacting major corporations, but also small businesses all across the U.S. are feeling the impact of rising tariffs.

And that's especially true for mom-and-pop stores or, in this case, mom-and-daughter stores like GaBBY Bows. It's a South Carolina-based company which started off as an elementary school science project. It says it sold more than a million barrettes in the U.S. and 16

countries. But Trump's new tariffs have put the future of the small company in doubt.

And I'm joined now by the mother-daughter, co-founders of GaBBY Bows. Rozalynn Goodwin started the business with her then-seven year old daughter, Gabby.

Gabby is not seven anymore. That was 11 years ago. But it's -- yes, she's all grown up.

But it's so great to have both of you here with us. Thank you so much for being here.

Rozalynn, I just want to start first with you.

We're at 145 percent tariffs on imports from China. Walk us through what that means for your business and what the last few weeks have been like kind of trying to ride this wave.

ROZALYNN GOODWIN, CO-FOUNDER, GABBY BOWS: Well, last fall, we got a dream retailer opportunity of a lifetime. When we started, our tariffs were at 5.3 percent. And when we signed the deal, they were at 25.3 percent.

And just to give you an example, I woke up to an email from our manufacturer in China asking if they were ready for us to go ahead and proceed with mass production. I told them yes, in order to get these barrettes to our retailer in time.

I got on social media and saw that it was 145 percent. I immediately emailed our manufacturer back and just said, wait, I got to look at these numbers again.

It is -- you know, we went from having to pay less than $1,000 in tariffs to now almost $6,000 in tariffs, which is more than our order. So it has just been very unpredictable. And that can be very stressful for a small business.

DEAN: Absolutely. And so I just want to make sure I'm understanding your math. Right. You're saying $6,000 in tariffs. That's more than you're going to pay just to -- to produce everything for your order itself.

R. GOODWIN: Right. My order was just 38,000 -- $3,800. So, yes.

DEAN: Wow.

And, Gabby, for you, you -- I know you guys have -- have grown this for 11 years now. I know you guys are talking about being in your dream retailer. It sounds like things are going in the right direction.

You've worked really hard. For this moment of uncertainty, this feels just like the worst timing for you. GABBY GOODWIN, CO-FOUNDER, GABBY BOWS: Yes, it is definitely a major risk and obviously, being able to manufacture overseas. We've been trying to get these barrettes, these double-faced, double-snap barrettes manufactured in the U.S. for about eight years.

[14:45:05]

But it's been so much hassle trying to get that. A lot of people, once we're negotiating, start telling us that we need to continue to do it overseas.

So it's just a lot of back and forth for a lot of years that has kind of built up to this moment, which is kind of unsettling, as you mentioned, as you -- as we -- as we've been able to kind of grow this dream, but not necessarily know if it's going to work out or not.

DEAN: Yes.

And, Rozalynn, as Gabby was saying about production, obviously one thing that the Trump administration wants to do is bring manufacturing and production of goods back to the U.S.

It sounds like you all have been trying to do that for a while, but -- but that it's really difficult. What do you think of that proposition, and does that seem realistic for you?

R. GOODWIN: Well, we've tried, as Gabby mentioned, for the last eight years. We've talked to U.S.-based manufacturers. I was just on the phone with one on Friday who's getting me quotes.

The problem is, everyone that we've talked to is getting quotes, has said that we'd have to increase the cost of this pack of our guaranteed anti-slip double face barrettes from $4 to 10 to $15, and we can't pass that price increase onto our customers when our competition is usually about a dollar or $2.

So it's unrealistic for a low-cost product. We are grateful that our retail partner is trying to work with us to try to get this first purchase order done, which is due in July. But it does leave a lot of uncertainty for any future purchase orders with this dream retailer.

DEAN: Yes, certainly.

All right. So, Gabby, what comes next? What do you guys do to try to kind of, you know, walk through this uncertain time?

G. GOODWIN: Yes. I think just really being able to lean on our customer base, leaning on the connections that we have and making sure that we are not just, you know, worried about these products that we're trying to come out with and manufacture, but also lean on the other amazing products that we have coming in store.

I am about to be or am an author of my first book that comes out in May of 27 with HarperCollins. So that's something to be excited about.

But just being able to continue to advocate for, not just us, as small business owners or small business owners, but so many small business owners here in the United States who are facing a lot of uncertainty because of these tariffs.

And really making sure that we are being that voice and being that advocate for people who are just like us as well.

DEAN: Yes, I think there are so many people out there, mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, companies that have been in families for a long time or brand new ones, small businesses that are facing exactly what you guys are right now.

We wish you the best. Rozalynn and Gabby, thank you so much.

G. GOODWIN: Thank you so much.

R. GOODWIN: Thank you for sharing our story.

DEAN: Yes.

Still to come, a CNN report reveals how easy it is for anyone, even someone with a criminal record, to become a driver for Uber or DoorDash. What's being done to shut down this black market on Facebook?

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[14:52:32]

SANCHEZ: We have a shocking new report to share with you from a tech watchdog group that found that rideshare and delivery driver accounts are being sold for rent on social media.

One public Facebook group has more than 22,000 members that regularly discuss buying, selling and renting driver accounts for Uber, DoorDash and U.K.-based Deliveroo.

DEAN: This effectively bypasses the safeguards in place, that are put in place by those platforms.

CNN's Clare Duffy is joining us now.

Clare, tell us more about what these researchers found.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Boris, Jessica, these researchers at the Tech Transparency Project found 80 Facebook groups where users are discussing buying, selling and renting driver accounts for these platforms.

And this is really concerning, right, because it means that you could potentially have drivers who bypass, as you said, Jessica, the safety measures that these rideshare and delivery platforms put in place.

So you could have a driver who wasn't able to get approved through the normal process, maybe they don't have a license or they couldn't pass a background check, who, nonetheless, is driving people around or delivering goods to their front door. I spoke with the CEO of Tech Transparency Project, Katie Paul, about

why this is such a big issue. Here's what she said.

She said, "It's incredibly concerning because part of the reason that Uber has been such an attractive tool for women, in particular, is because there's some sort of semblance of safety when there's tracking of who this person is if something were to happen. If that's not the case, then what's the point of using this platform?"

And I will say, when I looked into this, these Facebook pages were not particularly hard to find. They had names like Uber Account for Rent Worldwide or Uber Delivery Drivers Account for Rent. And some of them had tens of thousands of members and had been around for years.

It also was very clear that these pages were not hard to find, because if you just type "Uber Acc" -- you don't even have to type the whole word "account."

You type "Uber Acc" into the Facebook search bar, and it will auto populate a search result. Uber Accounts for Rent, as the first suggested search term.

Now, Facebook removed five of these pages when we flagged them to the company. But the question really is, why isn't there more proactive enforcement against these kinds of black markets on the platform?

SANCHEZ: And, Clare, what are the companies saying about this?

DUFFY: So Facebook said these kinds of -- these kinds of groups violate its rules against fraud and deceptive practices, and that it would remove these groups when they were identified.

And the ride share and delivery platforms really say that these kinds of groups undermine their safety practices.

[14:55:02]

Although, they did say that just because people are discussing renting or selling an account doesn't mean that you will necessarily have the wrong person behind the wheel at the end of the day.

They said they do things like I.D. and background checks. They have live selfie I.D. verification, so they ask drivers in real time to provide a selfie to prove that they are who they say they are.

And they also have consumer reporting tools. So if a consumer gets in a car and the driver is not the person that the app shows them it should be, they should report that to the platforms that these platforms can take care of that.

DEAN: All right. Very interesting.

Clare Duffy, thank you so much.

Coming up, a closer look at how the back-and-forth tariff announcements are affecting the stock market today after weeks of volatility.

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