The Headlines - A Landmark Verdict on the Danger of Social Media, and Trump’s Call to Punish ‘Rogue Judges’

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Plus, OnlyFans’ billionaire owner dies at 43.  Here’s what we’re covering: Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Case, by Cecilia Kang, Ryan Mac and Eli Tan Israel Targets Iranian Navy Commander in Airstrike, Israeli Officials Say, by Francesca Regalado, Isabel Kershner, Eric Schmitt and Euan Ward Republicans in Congress Fret Over Iran War as Pentagon Offers Few Answers, by Robert Jimison, Megan Mineiro and Eric Schmitt ICE Agents at Some Airports Begin Checking IDs in Security Lines, by Christina Morales, Christine Chung, Hamed Aleaziz, Sean Keenan and Rowan Moore Gerety Trump Calls for Law Cracking Down on Crime and ‘Rogue Judges,’ by Chris Cameron Immigration Slowdown Hits Every Metro Area in the U.S., Census Shows, by Jeff Adelson and Amy Qin Leon Radvinsky, 43, Dies; Built the Adult-Entertainment Giant OnlyFans, by Clay Risen Tune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, March 26th. Here's what we're covering. This is Ryan Mack with The New York Times. I'm actually sitting outside on the steps of a Los Angeles courthouse where a trial just wrapped up, essentially looking at the addictive nature of social media apps. In a landmark case yesterday, meta and YouTube were found to be negligent in how they've built the platforms that have become a huge part of modern life. A jury found that META, the parent company of Instagram, and YouTube, were essentially liable for the mental health distress caused to a plaintiff because of the design of their apps. The case was brought by a woman who testified that she started using social media almost constantly around age six and that it led to anxiety, depression, and thoughts of self-harm. She said features like infinite scroll and constant new recommendations from algorithms kept her hooked. I just felt like I wanted to be on it all the time. If I wasn't on it, I was going to miss out on something.

The jury agreed, essentially validating a novel legal theory that social media can be addictive and as harmful as products like cigarettes. What's stood out for me today in closing arguments was essentially this idea of how do you hold these trillion-dollar companies. You know, meta is worth $1.5 trillion. Alphabet, the parent company of YouTube, is worth $3.5 trillion. How do you hold them accountable? Ryan says that the damages the woman was ultimately awarded, $6 million,

are obviously just a drop in the bucket for the companies involved. But the moment is bigger than that. This is just one of thousands of lawsuits filed by teenagers, school districts, and states against social media platforms. And it could pave the way for more verdicts, potentially exposing the internet giants to more financial damages and even forcing them to change their products. This is basically being called social media's big tobacco moment,

a callback to when giants like Philip Morris were accused of hiding information about the harms of cigarettes. Those companies ultimately reached a $200-plus billion dollar settlement. Strict tobacco regulations went into place, and a decline in smoking followed. In Iran, the Israeli military is in an all-out race to strike as many. targets as it possibly can as part of a 48-hour blitz ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to senior Israeli officials, Netanyahu ordered the strikes after the Israeli government got a copy of President Trump's draft proposal to end the war. The idea of the U.S. potentially moving to wrap up the conflict alarmed Netanyahu and other

top advisors who feel they haven't fully accomplished their goals yet. That includes making sure Iran can't build a nuclear weapon, and stopping it from being able to fire ballistic missiles. Some Israeli security officials told the times the country still has an extensive list of sites it could go after in Iran. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill yesterday, Pentagon officials gave classified briefings to members of Congress. But, according to people familiar with the sessions, the officials declined to answer many questions about the war, including about its objectives, its costs, and whether ground troops will be deployed. And while Republicans have largely backed the president's campaign in Iran,

several GOP lawmakers came out of those meetings criticizing the lack of information. Representative Mike Rogers, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said, quote, we want to know more about what's going on, we're just not getting enough answers. Another Republican, Representative Nancy Mace, said there's been a deeply troubling gap between how the administration has justified the war to the American public and what officials are saying behind closed doors. A few other quick updates now on the Trump administration, from airport chaos, to dramatic new numbers from the Census Bureau.

First, the Times has confirmed that at several airports across the country, ICE agents are now checking travelers' IDs and performing other screening duties. The Trump administration deployed about 150 agents earlier this week, but until this point, they'd largely been doing things like guarding eggs, It's not clear if their deployment has had any effect on wait times for passengers, which have shot up to hours in some places, as 50,000 TSA officers go unpaid because of congressional deadlock over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood in plasma, and taking on jobs,

second jobs to make ends meet. Speaking to lawmakers yesterday, the top TSA official warned that if funding isn't restored, wait times could get even longer. and some small airports could be forced to close. Multiple major airports are experiencing days where 40 to 50% of their staff are calling out because they simply cannot afford to report to work. Also,

they're criminals, what they do to our country, the decisions that they hand down and hurt our country. President Trump took his attacks on judges to a new level yesterday, calling on Republicans in Congress to put together a crime bill that, quote, cracks down on what he claims are rogue members of the judicial branch. Trump, along with Vice President J.D. Vance and top White House aides, have been escalating their rhetoric against judges, in particular since the Supreme Court struck down the president's sweeping tariffs earlier this year. After that ruling, Trump labeled the justices who ruled against him fools, lapdogs, and slimeballs.

In response to questions from the Times, the White House didn't provide any specifics about what would be in the bill that Trump is pushing or what a crackdown on judges would look like in practice. And last update, new data released by the Census Bureau this morning shows how Trump's immigration policies are helping reshape the demographics of the U.S. In 75 percent of all counties last year, overall population growth slowed or turned negative. Large urban areas and counties along the border saw the biggest drop-offs in population as immigration rates dipped. Overall, though the population of the U.S. increased by 1.8 million people, that's one of the slowest growth rates in history because of a combination of low birth rates and fewer people entering the country. And finally, the man who helped supercharge the online porn industry building the site OnlyFans into a global jugger. or not, has died at 43. Leonid Bredvinsky bought a stake in the site a little less than a decade ago.

At that point, it was making about $2 million a year, connecting adult content creators with subscribers. By last year, thanks to some of his innovations, only fans was earning $7 billion a year. A few things he tweaked included adding the tipping function, that strengthened the bond between subscribers and their favorite performers. He also encouraged creators to post content on Instagram. and other platforms to boost their visibility and draw people in. And he invited celebrities to open accounts.

The pop singer Lily Allen said at one point she was making more money from selling photos of her feet on the site than from her music. Radbinski was a very private person. Only a few photos of him appear to exist and details about his life are thin. He was born in Odessa, Ukraine, when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. And he emigrated with his family to Illinois when he was about six. By high school, he'd already started a business that sold adult-oriented domain names. He was so young that his mom signed the incorporation documents. Over his career, he faced repeated accusations of business misconduct, including money laundering

and bribery, though none of the allegations were ever proved and most lawsuits against him were dropped. Only fans, interestingly, has had a complicated relationship with the very thing it's become known for. It has at some points banned explicit content, including for all of six days in 2021 before it gave that up. Still, the site has insisted that it offers a wide range of content, including cooking and dirt bike racing. Radvinsky, who died of cancer, had been looking to sell only fans over the last year,

which has been valued at $8 billion. Those are the headlines. Today on the Daily, more about the chaos at America's airports and what Congress might do about it. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest and the Friday News Quiz.