NPR News: 03-25-2026 10PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton, a jury in California has ordered that meta and YouTube pay $6 million for designing addictive social media platforms. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, it comes the same week as a New Mexico jury ordered meta to pay $375 million for failing to protect children on its apps. After eight days of deliberations, the jury found that Instagram and YouTube were designed to hook kids and teens. The verdict confirms the lawyer's novel legal strategy to treat social media apps as defective products, no different than cigarettes or digital casinos. This could influence the outcome of thousands of other lawsuits over social media addiction that have been consolidated. Child safety advocate Juliana Arnold had this message after the verdict. For the biggest tech executives, I want to say something. Stop blaming the parents. It's on you. Meta and Google have vowed to appeal. They say mental health issues are complex and can't be blamed on one single app. Bobby Allen and PR News Los Angeles.

1:00The U.S. Postal Service is proposing a temporary increase to some of its postage rates to help cover rising transportation costs. But as NPR's Hansello long reports, the proposal would not affect the price of first-class stamps. Mailing a letter in the U.S. with a first-class forever stamp would still cost 78 cents. But the U.S. Postal Service is proposing an eight percent price increase for its priority mail deliveries and for shipping packages. If the Postal Regulatory Commission approves, the temporary price hike would start April 26th and last until mid-January. This proposal comes a week after Postmaster General David Steinert told Congress USPS is months away from running out of money. The self-funded mailing agency relies on stamps and service fees, not tax dollars to deliver mail six days a week to almost every address in the country. With fewer people sending mail these days, the Postal Service is trying to address its financial shortfalls in part by increasing stamp prices and asking Congress to let a borrow more money. Hansello long NPR News. Deployment of ICE agents to mostly Democrat-led cities are a central part of President Trump's immigration enforcement crackdown. A new NPR analysis found that they also left cities with a huge

2:04bill as NPR's Jacqueline Diaz reports. In Los Angeles, the surge of immigration enforcement agents in June meant the LAPD had to spend big on overtime to respond to protests. Around $17 million on overtime for just eight days in June. In Portland, a federal ICE facility in the city became a big protest site. And local police say their response times for service calls more than doubled because officers had to be at the building. Local cops were also left physically and emotionally exhausted. Jacqueline Diaz NPR News. A federal judge presiding over AI company anthropics lawsuit against the Pentagon repeatedly questioned the government's rationale for designating the company a security threat. The Pentagon targeted an anthropic after the company tried to set guardrails for how its tech can be used in war. This is NPR News. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says President Trump's planned

3:04trip to China has been rescheduled for May. The trip has been postponed from the end of March due to the U.S. Israeli-led war in Iran. She added Trump will host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a reciprocal visit in the U.S. later this year. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is laying off around 700 people. That's less than 1% of the company's workforce. Meta has denied reports that it's preparing to slash 20%. As NPR's John Ruich reports, the cuts come at a time when the firm is trying to center its focus on artificial intelligence. The job cuts spans several teams, including reality labs, which works on augmented virtual reality, recruiting sales, global operations, and social media products. This, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity so they could candidly share information about the layoffs. The person says some affected employees will be offered new roles or relocation to other offices. But the job cuts come at an interesting time for Meta. This week, the company lined up potentially huge pay boosts through stock options for

4:05a handful of top executives, if they can drive up the share price. Meta was also hit with a $375 million jury verdict after being found liable for failing to protect kids from online predators. John Ruich and PR News. Famous J.R.R. Tolkien and Late Night host J.R.R. Tolkien fan and Late Night host Stephen Colbert is co-writing a Lord of the Rings movie with his son. Warner Brothers announced the Lord of the Rings shadow of the past will come after Andy Circus' upcoming The Hunt of Gollum, which is set to arrive in theaters next year. This is NPR News. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.