The whistleblower who thinks change is coming to social media

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

You might be cynical about the size of awards this week in two trials looking at social media harm against children. But Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen says rulings against Meta and Google could signal a larger trend. She joins us.

Then, the war with Iran is having massive ripple effects across the Middle East. Princeton University's Bernard Haykel explains how Iran's neighbors across the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, see the war.

And, Corpus Christi, Texas, is weeks away from a potential water emergency, with reservoirs below 10% and demand outpacing supply. KEDT's Spencer Cihak talks about who gets water in Texas and what happens when there isn’t enough.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:06.8	Blaming the victim is a classic playbook for large, powerful companies for people.
0:11.6	We can build safer social media, meta knew how they chose not to.
0:15.7	We can keep pushing and demand that that's what our children have access to.
0:19.1	Is big tech having its big tobacco moment?
0:32.6	It's Thursday, March 26th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:38.0	I'm Chris Bentley.
0:42.2	Today on the show, what Saudi Arabia wants out of the war in Iran.
0:47.5	It's clear that this war, despite the fact that they're still selling a lot of oil,
0:52.3	will require them to redirect their funds domestically,
0:56.1	to build their own country and their infrastructure, but also to buy new weapons systems.
1:00.6	Also, why some Texans are rationing water.
1:05.0	2011, there was a flash drought, and since then it's been just a ticking clock to this point.
1:11.7	That story coming up in about 10 minutes.
1:13.9	But first, Big Tech lost two major trials this week,
1:18.6	and there are more than a thousand cases where those came from.
1:23.1	Yesterday, Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook,
1:26.1	and Google, which owns YouTube, were found liable for making apps that addicted and harmed the mental health of a now 20-year-old woman with features like infinite scrolling and video auto play.
1:37.9	Meta spokeswoman Ashley Nicole Davis spoke outside the Los Angeles courthouse where the case was heard.
1:42.9	Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.
1:48.9	We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different,
1:53.6	and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.
	...

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