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Meta's Zuckerberg to Testify in Social Media Addiction Trial; Trial of Georgia School Shooter's Father in Day Three; High Winds, Dry Weather Fuels Critical Fire Danger in Five States. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 18, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, speaking out, parents demand answers as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take the stand in a landmark trial about social media addiction and kids.

And Colbert ups the ante. The late night comedian claps back is and is taking direct aim at CBS leadership again, even putting their press release in a dog poop bag. Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Desperate search for survivors after an avalanche sends a vicious wave of ice rocks and debris crashing down in Northern California.

Plus, raging wildfires, powerful flames are tearing through the Central U.S. right now with more danger possible later today.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

In just a few hours, Mark Zuckerberg will enter a courtroom in Los Angeles and face the heartbroken parents who say their children were harmed or even worse by the social media world he helped create. In fact, he will likely pass through a contingent of families on his way into the courthouse. These are live pictures from outside the courthouse right now.

The Meta CEO will testify as a witness in a landmark trial accusing Facebook and other platforms of intentionally getting kids hooked at the expense of their mental health. This is the first of more than 1,500 similar lawsuits around the country to go to trial and could set a precedent for cases against tech companies.

Let's go to CNN Tech Reporter Clare Duffy in New York. Clare, you're doing a lot of reporting on this. What do you expect Zuckerberg to say in his testimony today?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: Wolf, this is a huge moment, this is the first time that Zuckerberg has testified before a jury about these years old claims that his platforms have harmed young users. And because this is a jury trial, his performance on the stand is going to be very important today. Do they think he's likable? Do they think he's trustworthy?

We expect that Mark Zuckerberg will get asked questions that try to get at the reasonableness of the company's actions to protect young users. They've talked throughout the trial about safety features, like parental oversight tools, default safety and privacy settings for teen users. And he is going to get questions about what Meta knew about the risks to children from its platforms, and if those measures, those efforts were enough to mitigate those risks.

Now, Meta has argued that the 20-year-old woman, Kaylee, who brought this case, suffered mental health challenges, not because of Instagram and social media, but because she had a difficult family life growing up. A Meta spokesperson told me ahead of this hearing today, 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 that she faced significant difficult challenges well before she ever used social media.

But, of course, Zuckerberg going to get hard questions today about whether this company put profits over youth safety, and you mentioned also, Wolf, the families. This is a huge moment for the parents who, for years, have been asking for changes to these platforms.

Among the parents who are hoping to get a space in the courtroom today are parents who are also in the audience back in 2024 on Capitol Hill, when Mark Zuckerberg turned around and faced families and apologized for the harms that their children have experienced on social media.

I spoke with one of those moms, Joann Bogard, who became an advocate on this issue after her 15-year-old son, Mason, died, trying to replicate an online challenge video that he saw on YouTube. And Joann told me that we're doing our best as parents, but we are facing these trillion dollar companies. So, parents like Joann hoping that more changes will come out of this trial. And, of course, much is going to depend on what the jury thinks of Zuckerberg's testimony today. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Clare Duffy reporting for us, thank you very much.

Coming up at about ten minutes or so, we're going to speak to a mother who blames Instagram for her 17-year-old daughter's death. The accountability she wants from this trial, that's just ahead.

BROWN: Well, happening now, Wolf, day three of the testimony is underway in the trial of Colin Gray. He's the Georgia dad whose son carried out a mass shooting at his high school back in 2024.

Take a look at this new surveillance video shown during the trial.

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In the bottom right hand corner, you can see the moment a teacher, David Phoenix, crawls back into a classroom after he was shot in the hip and in the foot.

On Tuesday, we also heard hours of emotional testimony from that teacher as well as several students who survived the shooting.

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HAYDEN, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL SURVIVOR: I called my mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did you tell her?

HAYDEN: I told her that I was going to die.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you kind of talk to us about how that day has affected you?

HAYDEN: I often have really bad thoughts relating to that and other things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And kind of tell me what you mean by really bad thoughts.

HAYDEN: That it's going to happen again and that this time I'm going to die because I was supposed to the first time.

NATALIE, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL SURVIVOR: I was also worried that I was going to die and how that would affect my parents, because my dad has a heart problem.

I had PTSD afterwards.

I -- when someone knocks on the door in my classroom, I think, do they have a gun?

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BROWN: Let's go to CNN's Jean Casarez. Jean, you have a new exclusive interview with Jennifer Crumbley's attorney. We're going to get to that in just a moment. But, first, tell us what we could hear today at the Gray trial.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me tell you what's happening right now, the assistant principal has been on the stand of the high school. And this is unbelievable, and it's nobody's fault. But that morning in September of 2024 in that mathematics classroom was Colt Gray, who was going to be the shooter, but there was another student by the name of Colton Gray in the same classroom.

Colt Gray asked to be excused to go to the counselor's office. He actually went to the bathroom to get his rifle ready. Colton Gray asked to be excused to actually go to a bathroom. And so when they started searching, because the teacher realized, I think he's got a gun in his bag, they were searching for Colton Gray. And Colton Gray returned to the class because he had gone to the bathroom and that they weren't searching for Colt Gray.

And it was minutes after that that the shooting happened. It was just ironic, two students with such a similar name in that little classroom with the mathematics Algebra 1 class. BROWN: It's -- wow, that coincidence, Jean. You also spoke exclusively with Jennifer Crumbley's lawyer this morning. Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after her son, Ethan, killed four students and injured seven others in a school shooting back in 2021. Many of us remember that. The cases are very similar. What did she tell you?

CASAREZ: Well, it was fascinating what she told me, and she actually defended the initial case ever in this country of a parent being responsible for the shooting of their child. She said, first of all, she sees a lot of similarities from the defense perspective as far as manipulation by the son. There was so much manipulation by Ethan Crumbley toward his parents, and she sees so much manipulation here also.

And she says the pivotal factor here for the defense, but also for the prosecution improving their case, is the knowledge of the parent. What did that father knew? How much did he know? Because if he knew a lot enough that there was a known risk to have this school shooting, then that is pivotal in the prosecution proving their case.

She also told me that in Jennifer's case that Ethan Crumbley, the son, he wanted to testify for his mother, take the stand, presumably to say it was all me. I did this on my own independently. I want you to listen to Jennifer Crumbley explain that.

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SHANNON SMITH, JENNIFER CRUMBLEY'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think it's really unfortunate in the Crumbley case that Ethan wasn't able to testify. So, it will be interesting to see what happens in the Gray case to find out if in fact -- I mean that is a huge part of the case, is what did the parents know? What did his dad know? And, really, the only person who can explain, I mean, essentially the manipulation he caused is Colt. That's the only person who knows his state of mind, where he was coming from, what he was thinking. His testimony would be critical, just like Ethan's would've been.

There's no doubt about who committed the shooting and what happened. So, when you have a situation like that the level of protection that the shooter needs is really different than when you don't know who the shooter is when you're trying someone to just find out if they are in fact the shooter. And so, yes, I'd be absolutely approaching, you know, counsel for the shooter to see if he would testify, because that's the only thing that could really -- I mean, not the only thing, but that's an important part of what is going to be looked at as far as what his father knew.

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CASAREZ: So, she is saying that the defense in this case should talk to Colt's attorneys to see if something could be worked out for him to take the stand. In Ethan's case, his attorneys advised Ethan, do not do this, do not testify for your mother at all. And he listened to their advice and ultimately was going to take the Fifth if he took the stand in Jennifer's trial.

BROWN: All right. Jean Casarez, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, more than 150,000 acres burned and counting. The very dangerous conditions fueling wildfires across Oklahoma right now.

And later --

BROWN: Stephen Colbert blasts CBS in another test of late night talk show freedoms.

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STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: 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. Oh, hold on.

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BROWN: Happening now, the power and dangers of social media for your kids. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will soon testify as a witness in the landmark trial, accusing platforms of intentionally addicting children at the expense of their mental health. This was the scene right here outside the courthouse just moments ago, a contingent of families who say their children were harmed or worse by the social media world he helped create.

And we've been following one mother who blames Instagram for the death of her 17-year-old daughter.

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JULIANNA ARNOLD, FOUNDING MEMBER, PARENTS RISE!: These cases and these trials are so important to us because they're finally going to hold these tech companies accountable for their knowledge, their design, and their choices they made, and the trade-offs they made at -- you know, at the risk of our own children being harmed.

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BROWN: So, that was Julianna Arnold. She says her 17-year-old daughter, Coco, died after she met an older man on Instagram who sold her pills laced with fentanyl. Julianna now runs a nonprofit for parents who say they lost their children because of social media. And she's in Los Angeles for this trial and joins us now.

Our condolences on the loss of your daughter, Julianna. As a mother myself, I can't imagine the pain and just the desire to fight on behalf of your daughter. So, you're there for this trial. Why is it important for you to be there and what would you say to Mark Zuckerberg, because he is expected to show up soon and you could have an opportunity to say something to him?

ARNOLD: Well, I'm not sure I'll get that opportunity, but if we do, I'll think quickly on the spot. We are here. It's so important for us to be here because, really, what this trial is about for parents is we want the truth. We want the truth. We want transparency and we want these companies to be held accountable.

You know, for years they've been telling us how their platforms are safe and they're doing everything in their power, you know, to make them safe for our children. And as we see now internal documents that's being released with this trial, that they actually knew that their platforms had risks to children, risks to their mental health, that they were addictive and they're, in fact, designing them to be addictive so they could get -- you know, increase their profits by having more and more children at younger ages on their platform to increase their lifespan of products.

So, that's why we're here today. They need to see. Mark Zuckerberg needs to see. I faced him once in January 2024 in Congress at a hearing where he was forced to apologize to us and now we really want to hear the truth because that day we did not hear the truth.

BROWN: Meta issued a statement about this case, in which a woman now 20 years old accuses Meta and YouTube of harming her mental health by designing addictive features. Meta says, 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.

Before I get your reaction, let me share the thoughts of a Facebook whistleblower, then-Facebook, who we spoke with yesterday, Frances Haugen. She leaked internal documents indicating that Facebook knew Instagram had a toxic effect on teen girls. Here's what she said.

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FRANCES HAUGEN, FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER: It's the classic blaming the victim. We saw this in the tobacco lawsuits. That's why you got cancer, not our cigarettes. So, we should expect to hear this time and time again. They'll find anything they complain at other than taking responsibility for their own actions.

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BROWN: As a parent who lost their child, how do you respond to this?

ARNOLD: I absolutely agree with Frances having seen it firsthand in my own case. I'm not saying that, you know, that Instagram may have caused my daughter struggling with anxiety and depression, but I'm tell you this, she was a vulnerable kid with ADHD and had some anxiety and depression. And this product that she got addicted to put her in a downward spiral.

And I'm sitting here with parents who have the same experiences. It's the same pattern. They take a vulnerable child -- well, all kids are vulnerable, their self-esteem and what girls face especially on these platforms is horrifying to have to go through that. And it really has created such a huge mental health crisis in this country.

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And so if it doesn't create it directly, it totally exacerbates it and makes it so much -- and we can't fight these multi-billion dollar companies with the way that they're designing their platforms to be addictive to our children.

BROWN: Meta, as you know, has made some reforms. One of the reforms is to make any teen accounts private so that only their followers, people that they're actually connected with, can message with them, they put in other controls and privacy controls, and allow parents to be more involved, and also they're using A.I. to verify age and so forth, is that sufficient for you or would you like to see more reforms made?

ARNOLD: We have to see more reforms. I mean, these are after the fact reforms, after the harms have already been done. Where have they been for the past ten years? A.I. is not a new thing. They've been using it for years in their algorithms to push, you know, content to our children and make the decisions of what they see and what they don't see. So, they could have done this a lot earlier, and I feel like it's a Band-Aid.

I mean, take the analogy of like, you know, in the 70s, like you give someone a pinto, okay, and then they say they have a harm and then all of a sudden you give them a fire extinguisher and try to blow it out. Good luck. That's what it feels like as a parent. And we should -- the onus should not be on us. It should be on them to design a product that is safe for our children and that is what we need -- why we need legislation to force them to do this. Because obviously they're not going to do it themselves, because for them it's all profit. They don't care at all about our children's wellbeing.

BROWN: What specifically would you like to see done now and what advice would you offer parents who have children on social media?

ARNOLD: I would say, okay, finally we're starting to learn the truth. I mean, when my daughter went on social media, you know, and the parents I'm with, we didn't know anything. Now, we finally know, and finally we have evidence. We've been talking about this anecdotally for years now, and telling our stories on two legislators trying to get legislation passed, like the Kids Online Safety Act, and we were successful in the Senate 91-3, and then it got blocked in the House. And that was our big hit for us.

So, this is going to provide the evidence that legislators need to pass stricter legislation, comprehensive legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act, and not just piecemeal Band-Aids here and there, putting in the, the responsibility back on the parent. That's not what it should be.

These companies -- it's -- accountability is a part of doing business in the United States, and they need to be held accountable, like other companies that held accountable when they put out a faulty product.

BROWN: Julianna Arnold, thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it.

ARNOLD: Thank you so much. Thank you.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: And coming up, the FBI database comes up empty. Now, investigators are turning to another kind of testing in their search for Nancy Guthrie. We're live in Tucson with the very latest.

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BLITZER: Happening now, a wildfire emergency right in the center of the country. Look at these apocalyptic scenes in Oklahoma As wildfires driven by near hurricane-force winds leave a path of destruction. They destroyed buildings, forced people to evacuate their homes, threatened livestock and burn more than, get this, 150,000 acres. Officials say a seven-vehicle crash on a highway sparked one of the fires. One person spoke about the struggle to save the animals.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I come down to make sure my adoptive mom was out and all of her horses, she only got one out. Luckily enough, the other ten found shelter in a barn and her pigs were okay too.

But I pushed through. I come back because they wouldn't let me through. I say the first time I come down, the flames were flying over me. So, I finally had to just go back.

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BLITZER: This is the same weather system that blew dust and dirt near Pueblo, Colorado, causing a pileup of more than 30 vehicles on Interstate 25. Four people were killed and dozens were injured.

Our Meteorologist Chris Warren is over at the CNN Weather Center for us. Chris, there could be more dangerous conditions today. Is that that?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That is right, Wolf. Once again, fire weather threat is critical for a lot of the areas where those wildfires are burning right now. With that also, red flag mornings and fire weather watches stretching across most of Oklahoma, the panhandle of Texas into New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas, also parts of the Midwest, with the wind being a huge factor for spreading these fires, and they can spread very quickly because of the strong winds.

And this is what is expected in terms of the wind gusts, at times gusting up to 30 to 35 miles an hour. Not expected to be as strong as yesterday, but still the yellows and the orange showing where there could be 45 to 50, 55-mile-per-hour gusts at times through today and into tomorrow afternoon, where, once again, fire weather threat is elevated to critical again, and in some of the same areas.

What's generating the wind, these areas of low pressure, one to the north, one moving across the Southern Plains, while they're bringing the wind, they're not bringing the rain, that could be so helpful in helping to put out some of the fire.

So, when you look at this, you can see most of the areas where the winds are strong, it does remain dry, helping to intensify the drought. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Our meteorologist Chris Warren, thank you very much.

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In the next hour, we're going to update you on the latest after an avalanche raged through California burying skiers.