Danes React to Trump’s Greenland Threats; U.S. Lawmakers Debate Banning Social Media for Teens

Summary

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“Here’s the Scoop” – Danes React to Trump’s Greenland Threats; U.S. Lawmakers Debate Banning Social Media for Teens

NBC News | Host: Yasmin Dasgupta | Date: January 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Yasmin Dasgupta leads a fast-paced, insightful breakdown of two complex stories: the international uproar over President Trump’s renewed push to acquire Greenland from Denmark—with widespread outcry from Danish leaders and citizens—and the intensifying debate in Washington over whether to ban social media for teenagers. The episode features on-the-ground coverage from NBC correspondents in Copenhagen and Capitol Hill, plus eye-opening data, expert voices, and notable direct quotes from lawmakers and citizens.

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Main Segment 1: U.S.–Denmark Fallout Over Trump’s Greenland Threats

Setting the Scene

• President Trump has threatened unspecified punitive measures—potentially tariffs—against countries opposing his push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
• A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers (Republicans and Democrats) is in Copenhagen, meeting with Danish officials and signaling clear opposition to Trump’s stance.
• Danes and Greenlanders are described as increasingly anxious about U.S. intentions, with rumors and fears of even military intervention stirring public concern.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

American Lawmakers in Denmark

• Ryan Nobles (NBC Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent), on the ground in Copenhagen, highlights the rare spectacle of U.S. lawmakers publicly rebuking their own president’s foreign policy:
  • “It is a pretty strong act of defiance in many ways that these members of Congress would be so bold to travel to a place where Donald Trump is threatening to take some sort of action and say that they're not on the same page as the President of the United States.” (03:45)

Danish Political and Public Response

• Danish member of Parliament Rasmus Jarlov (Conservative Party, akin to GOP) told Nobles:
  • “Greenland is not for sale, the people of Denmark are not interested in selling it, and that it is a unifying issue among the members of Parliament.” (04:40)
• Nobles reflects overwhelming Danish public opposition:
  • “We've talked to a lot of people from Denmark, people that live in Copenhagen, and you cannot find a single person that's like, yeah, I'm at least open to it...They get emotional when they talk about it.” (04:48)
  • Some Danes fear retribution simply for speaking openly against Trump.

Fears for Greenland & NATO Implications

• Greenlanders reportedly losing sleep, with children worried about the prospect of seeing U.S. military planes overhead.
  • “People have a hard time sleeping because of this, that children are asking questions, worried that they're gonna see US Military planes over their homes in Greenland.” (05:55)
• Concerns that the crisis could fracture NATO and embolden U.S. adversaries (Russia, China).
  • “If you got into a situation where the United States were to attack its own ally...what does that mean for the stability of this alliance that's keeping Russia at bay, that's keeping China at bay?” (07:30)

Congressional Leverage and Trump’s Persistence

• Acquiring Greenland would require congressional approval and massive funds.
  • “The idea that he would need $700 billion to buy Greenland, he literally cannot do that without Congress saying, yes, you can do this... The United States treasury is not gonna print the money unless Congress says, you can do it.” (09:52)
• Yet, doubts linger about whether lawmakers will stand up to the President:
  • “We haven't seen Congress be willing to stand up to Donald Trump on a wide range of issues. What makes us think this is going to be the one thing they stand up to him on?” (09:57)
• Trump remains dogged in his ambitions:
  • “He truth socials about it. So it is a live ball, and it's one that I think we all need to take seriously, but certainly the people here in Denmark and the people in Greenland are taking seriously.” (11:17)

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Notable Quotes

• Rasmus Jarlov (Danish MP):
  “Greenland is not for sale.” (04:40, paraphrased by Nobles)

• Ryan Nobles:
  “They get emotional when they talk about it...There's a sense of fear, particularly in Greenland, but also in Denmark, about the prospect of military intervention.” (05:44)

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Key Timestamps

• [01:54] – Segment opens: Greenland situation update
• [03:42] – U.S. lawmakers meet Danish officials
• [04:34] – Danish political and public responses
• [05:55] – Anxiety and fear in Greenland
• [07:01] – NATO alliance stakes
• [09:00] – Legal, congressional limitations on Trump
• [11:00] – Trump’s persistence and political dynamics

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Main Segment 2: U.S. Lawmakers Debate Banning Social Media for Teens

Setting the Scene

• Global momentum growing for legislative action to restrict teen access to social media following Australia’s ban (under 16).
• Senate Commerce Committee recently held hearings on age restrictions; bipartisan concern is evident.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Lawmakers' Personal Investment

• Many senators are parents themselves and empathize with constituents on the challenges of managing children’s digital lives.
  • Sen. Ted Cruz: “Any parent at home with a kid who has a phone is dealing with it, is struggling, needs more tools from this hearing.” (14:22)

Why Legislation Is Stalled

• Julie Serkin (Capitol Hill Correspondent): Cites two major hurdles:
  • “Big Tech has a lot of money... and number two, as Cruz told me, they're just too old to understand this.” (14:49)
• Neurological, developmental harm to teens is well-documented, with experts warning Gen Z is “the first generation... underperforming the previous generation...the culprit...is screen time, social media, this inability to connect, to be as creative and form original thoughts.” (15:48)

Public Support vs. Industry Lobbying

• Polling shows 2/3 of voters support some form of social media ban for teens. Lawmakers are motivated by constituent pressure as much as the issue itself.
  • “They are entirely motivated by the constituents that would reelect them in the next election.” (16:47)
• At the local level, bans are emerging in schools, but federal progress is haltingly slow.

International Comparisons

• Australia’s ban: 4.7 million youth accounts shut down; Prime Minister hails it as “world leading legislation.”
• U.S. lags behind; even making the minimum age 13 legally enforceable has only recently passed. “Is that stunning that that wasn't even being enforced?” (17:36)

The Money Problem

• Social media giants (Meta, TikTok, etc.) earn billions from teen users and have fought fiercely against federal regulation.
  • “Unless social media companies are forced and required by law to change their practices, they're not going to...ban their most profitable age group and their target consumers.” (19:21)

Presidential and Partisan Dynamics

• President’s stance is nuanced: champions safety reforms but relies on youth vote and digital outreach.

  • “He says that he wants to make social media, the online space, safer for kids...At the same time, he has delayed the sale of TikTok...He has a lot of young men in particular, but young people in general to thank for his win.” (20:25)

• Gridlock persists:

  • Even modest reforms, like the Kids Online Safety Act, have foundered due to lobbying:
    “They came really close in the Senate...and then it went nowhere in the House...big tech influence.” (21:58)

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Notable Quotes

• Sen. Ted Cruz:
  “Any parent at home with a kid who has a phone is dealing with it, is struggling, needs more tools from this hearing.” (14:22)

• Julie Serkin:
  “Big Tech has a lot of money...and number two, as Cruz told me, they're just too old to understand this.” (14:49)

  “Gen Z is the first generation in our modern history that is underperforming the previous generation...the culprit, he said, is screen time.” (15:48, quoting expert)

  “They are entirely motivated by the constituents that would reelect them in the next election.” (16:47)

• Yasmin Dasgupta:
  “I have to keep social media away from you because that is against the law.” (19:58, summarizing parental need for regulation)

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Key Timestamps

• [13:17] – Segment opens: U.S. may ban social media for teens
• [14:22] – Sen. Cruz highlights universal parental struggles
• [14:49] – Julie Serkin on barriers to legislation
• [15:48] – Expert testimony: Social media and Gen Z’s struggles
• [17:36] – International and state comparisons
• [18:38] – Money flows and the cost of inaction
• [20:25] – The President’s dilemma and political stakes
• [21:58] – Congressional gridlock and Big Tech lobbying

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Quick Headlines (News-in-Brief, No Timestamps)

• ACLU Sues ICE: Alleging racial profiling of Somali and Latino Minnesotans. DHS calls accusations “categorically false.”
• Sanctions on Iran: U.S. targets top officials over crackdown on protesters and shadow banking.
• Gaza Update: Trump chairs a new peace board overseeing transition, with questions about international oversight and Israeli cooperation.
• Sports: LA Dodgers sign Kyle Tucker to a $240 million contract.
• Trendy Dating: Gen Z moves away from dating apps, reviving personal ads with several heartwarming stories.

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Memorable Moments

• Emotional Danish Public Reacts:
  “People have a hard time sleeping because of this, that children are asking questions...” (05:55, Ryan Nobles)

• Absurdity Called Out:
  “The important thing to keep in mind here, Yasmin, is that everything Donald Trump wants, Greenland is willing to give...But Donald Trump has set this line in the sand—it's either I get it all, or I get nothing.” (08:30, Ryan Nobles)

• Lawmakers’ Digital Disconnect:
  “Some of them use flip phones, let alone understanding what smartphones do.” (17:36, Julie Serkin)

• Gen Z Struggles:
  “Gen Z is the first generation...underperforming the previous generation...the culprit...is screen time, social media, this inability to connect...” (15:48, expert quoted by Julie Serkin)

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Tone and Style

The episode’s tone is brisk, accessible, and empathetic—pragmatic reporting mixed with occasional flashes of dry humor and real-world gravity, especially around the anxieties felt by Danes and parents alike.

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Summary Takeaways

• President Trump’s Greenland ambitions have unified Danish opposition and made even U.S. lawmakers openly break with the White House, heightening European security anxieties.
• In the U.S., momentum for banning or restricting teen social media access is building, but faces entrenched industry resistance, political inertia, and generational digital divides.
• Both stories reflect deep public concern—whether about national sovereignty or children’s mental health—and underscore the limits of political action in the face of powerful interests and public skepticism.

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Transcript

[Keith Morrison]

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[Yasmin Dasgupta]

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[Ryan Nobles]

You're on edge as to what's going to happen next.

[Keith Morrison]

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[Ryan Nobles]

Hey, guys, I'm Hoda Kotb. Look, I know how busy life can get, and sometimes we all just need a moment to pause and connect. Well, that's what my podcast Making Space is all about. Real conversations with people who've learned how to live with purpose and heart. Think authors, thought leaders, actors, performers. And every time I walk away with something that changes how I see the world. I'm and I think you will, too. Join me for Making Space every week wherever you get your podcasts.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Hey, everybody, and welcome to here's the scoop of NBC News. I'm Yasam Dasugin. We are talking about a potential social media ban here in the United States. On the show today, we'll tell you what is in the way of that becoming a reality. Plus, extra, extra. Read all about your next match, the new dating trend that is all about putting your personal life into print. We are starting, though, in Denmark, where a bipartisan group of US Lawmakers are meeting with officials about President Trump's ongoing threats to take over Greenland. Just today, the president announced that other countries may have a price to pay if they don't support him. I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland.

[Ryan Nobles]

Because we need Greenland for national security.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

But Greenland is a semi autonomous territory of Denmark, and the Danes have made it clear that Greenland is not for sale, just as the people of Greenland have said they don't want to be owned by the United States. Our own NBC News chief, Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles is in Copenhagen and is joining us now. Hey, Ryan.

[Ryan Nobles]

Yasmin, I want to guess this is the coolest place someone's been on your podcast from, but you are always getting people from all over cool places, so.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Exactly.

[Ryan Nobles]

But I'm excited to be in Copenhagen.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

It's up there. But we've had Beijing, we've had Iran. We're a global podcast.

[Ryan Nobles]

I knew it before I even said it. Yes, yes, yes.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

So you're with this bipartisan group of US Lawmakers who are meeting with their Danish counterparts. What have the conversations been like?

[Ryan Nobles]

I think it's gotta be a pretty unique foreign policy experience for many of these members of Congress, and I'm sure for the Danish leaders as well, because generally, when a group of lawmakers travels abroad, they travel abroad with a foreign policy that, for the most part, the American government is agreed upon.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Yeah.

[Ryan Nobles]

Here we have a very unique situation in that you have a group of members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, who are diametrically opposed to this policy by Donald Trump. And by traveling here, they're sending a message to the people of Denmark and the people of Greenland, who are also very much opposed to this idea of a US Acquisition of Greenland. And in many ways, I think what they're trying to do is calm the fears of these leaders that they're going to allow Donald Trump to do something rash, whether or not that's enough. Because I certainly believe in some of the leaders that I've talked to today, and certainly the people of Denmark that I've talked to today have felt that the US Congress has not done very much to stand up to Donald Trump up until this point. So they don't feel confident that they have the ability to stand up to him when it comes to something like this. But I do think it is a pretty strong act of defiance in many ways that these members of Congress would be so bold to travel to a place where Donald Trump is threatening to take some sort of action and say that they're not on the same page as the President of the United States.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

You had one member of Denmark's Parliament say, I don't think you're gonna find anyone here in Parliament who would be willing to sign a sale of Greenland. It is something we're just not gonna do. You've also been out in the streets of Denmark talking to people, asking them about what their opinion is of this possible transition of the territory of Greenland to the United States. What have they been telling you?

[Ryan Nobles]

Yeah, that member of Parliament that I talked to, he's. His name is Rasmus Jarlov. He is a member of the Conservative Party, which is the opposition party in Denmark. He. I think his profile. If you were to look at the positions that he holds on a wide range of issues, he would likely be a Republican, and he could not have been more clear with me about how much he opposes this. He said that Greenland is not for sale, the people of Denmark are not interested in selling it, and that it is a unifying issue among the members of Parliament. And it is certainly a unifying issue for the people on the ground. It's not like we've been here a long time. We've been here about 48 hours. We've talked to a lot of people from Denmark, people that live in Copenhagen, and you cannot find a single person that's like, yeah, that's. You know, I'm at least open to it. All right, you know, let's have a conversation about it. They are all very much opposed to it. They get emotional when they talk about it. Most of them do not want to be on camera and be public about it because they fear retribution in some form or fashion. One gentleman I spoke to said that he's traveling to the United States in the near future. He believes, or he's worried that his passport could be flagged if he. If he showed up on the Today show hammering Donald Trump or opposing this position. And then the other part of it, too, Yasmin, that I think is important is that there's a sense of fear.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Wow.

[Ryan Nobles]

Particularly in Greenland, but also in Denmark, about the prospect of military intervention. I talked to a representative from Greenland who represents their government there, but she was here in Copenhagen, and she told me that people have a hard time sleeping because of this, that children are asking questions, worried that they're gonna see military. US Military planes overt their homes in Greenland. I think that in the United States, we may take Trump's threats or the fact that he has refused to take military action off the table and say, well, that's just Trump. That's the art of the deal. That's just how he negotiates. They're taking Donald Trump at his word or his lack of word when it comes to military action. And they're very worried about what that means for their safety and stability, and also what it means for the greater Europe and this NATO alliance that's held strong since World War II.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

I have to be honest, I didn't even think about how children are thinking about this, how they are seeing this as a potential act of war from the United States. Denmark's a member of NATO. What are the Danish lawmakers that you're speaking to? What are they saying about how this could impact the NATO alliance?

[Ryan Nobles]

I think that they, first and foremost, are concerned about Greenland and then how that extends to the impact on Denmark. But I think the argument that they're making to the broader European is that you right now, are looking at a significant possible threat to NATO and its partnership, and you need to take this seriously. And there are signs that those European allies are taking it seriously. They're a group of European military forces joined with Danish military forces, basically just kind of as a symbolic gesture to say, hey, we're up here and we're going to defend this place if we have to. But if you got into a situation where the United States were to attack its own ally that they've had a partnership with for 60 some odd years, what does that mean for the stability of this alliance that's keeping Russia at bay, that's keeping China at bay? And it's kind of a weird juxtaposition, because one of the reasons that President Trump feels so strongly about securing Greenland and making it an American territory is because of the threats from China and from Russia. So the idea that you would break up that alliance, you know, to them, they feel that, like, that's the bigger threat than just whether or not Greenland's in American hands. Because the important thing to keep in mind here, Yasmin, is that everything Donald Trump wants, Greenland is willing to give. There was a time where there were 20 military, US military bases on Greenland. They said you can open them all back up again. The rare earth minerals, which are now becoming more available because of the warming climate, they're open to a US Partnership on getting those out of the ground. And Denmark is willing to work with them, too. But Donald Trump has set this line in the sand of it's either I get it all or I get nothing. And that's what I think has been so frustrating for the Danish lawmakers, but the American lawmakers as well.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Ryan, the president and his administration have talked about the possibility of buying Greenland, which would require congressional approval. You talked to Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski about that. The signals are clear. And I think you, you will find that support in Congress to acquire Greenland in any way is not there. We now have the president saying that if you don't agree with him, if you're a country that doesn't agree with this move, he could feasibly impose tariffs. Does Congress. Do these lawmakers feel like they have the power to stop him? And if they do, are they actually willing to use it?

[Ryan Nobles]

Well, as is always with Donald Trump, there's very little specifics associated with this kind of proclamation that he made in the Oval Office today. I'm not exactly sure how you would use tariffs as a weapon to prevent countries from supporting or not supporting the acquisition of Greenland. But the point here is that there's a Supreme Court decision that's pending as to whether or not Donald Trump can just unilaterally put these tariffs in at any point, if the Supreme Court decision doesn't go his way, that essentially takes that off the table. But if it doesn't, the next question, and it's a very fair one to ask, is we haven't seen Congress be willing to stand up to Donald Trump on a wide range of issues. What makes us think that this is going to be the one thing they stand up to him on? But the idea that he would need $700 billion to buy Greenland, he literally cannot do that without Congress saying, yes, you can do this. The United States treasury is not gonna print the money unless Congress says, you can do it. The one thing that I can't kind of get out of my mind here is that Donald Trump just keeps saying he wants it. He has at any point during the. I mean, when he first floated the idea of Greenland early on and everybody was kind of like, what? Why?

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Didn't take him seriously?

[Ryan Nobles]

Yeah, nobody took it seriously. But he has not. There has not been any period of time where he was like, well, we talked about that, but I don't think we're gonna do that. Now. He's done that on a whole host of issues. Right. This is something that he has consistently said he wants to do. If he's asked about it, he says he wants to do it. He brings it up out of the blue. He truth socials about it. So it is a live ball, and it's one that I think we all need to take seriously, but certainly the people here in Denmark and the people in Greenland are taking seriously.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Ride nobles. Thank you.

[Ryan Nobles]

Thanks, Yasmin.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

All right, we are going to take a very quick break, and when we are back, a push to ban teens from social media is gaining momentum here in the U.S. but there's a lot standing in its way. That's next.

[Keith Morrison]

Hey, guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with the hilarious Ken Jeong to talk through a career of unforgettable roles, from the Hangover movies to the cult favorite show Community, and his latest in the Netflix cultural sensation, K Pop Demon Hunters. You can find our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

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[Ryan Nobles]

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[Yasmin Dasgupta]

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[Ryan Nobles]

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[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Welcome back to here's the scoop of NBC News. So we have talked about this topic on the show before, the question of how to limit the impact of social media on teenagers. About a month ago, Australia instituted a ban on social media for anyone under the age of 16. Now you have countries like France, Malaysia and Indonesia that are exploring similar restrictions. And here at home, lawmakers in Washington on Capitol Hill have been holding hearings as they debate whether the United States should follow suit and issue a ban on social media for teenagers. I want to bring in Julie Serkin. She is our Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News and she's got a lot of reporting on this. Hey, Julie.

[Julie Serkin]

Hey, Yasmin. Thanks for having me.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Great to have you on. So there was this hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee about posing age restrictions on social media for teens. Senator Ted Cruz is the father of two daughters and he is the committee chair. I want to play for folks what the senator actually had to say and then we can talk senators that are.

[Ryan Nobles]

Engaged on this issue and care about it. All of us are about the same age. We all have kids that are either in grade school or high school. But we're dealing with these pressures at home. Any parent at home with a kid who has a phone is dealing with it, is struggling, needs more tools from this hearing.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Julie, what to you was kind of the biggest takeaways as to why it seems like lawmakers are so concerned about this?

[Julie Serkin]

Well, a couple things, Yasmin. You know, I've covered over the last several years so many different legislative efforts that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have tried to put their differences aside and come together and work on for the sake of their children. And I think that's why this issue is so unique from the rest. There really is so much bipartisanship in this. And the two problems and roadblockers that lawmakers are facing is one, let's just be Honest Big Tech has a lot of money. They invest a lot in campaigns and electing lawmakers that will do what they want them to do. And that is not restricting kids, their biggest money maker, from using their applications. And number two, as Cruz told me, they're just too old to understand this. And that's just the reality.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

So obviously money is a big factor, as you mentioned. Right. But if we think about the impact that social media has on the children themselves, there is kind of the impact on their neurological system, their brains.

[Julie Serkin]

Yeah, absolutely. And that is why Cruz and Maria Cantwell, who's the top Democrat on the committee, they brought a slate of experts, of child psychologists, of experts in the social media space specifically. And one quote that stood out to me so much that came from an expert, a doctor that we featured is Gen Z is the first generation in our modern history that is underperforming the previous generation. Usually generations advance. And the culprit, he said, is screen time, social media, this inability to connect, an inability to be as creative and form original thoughts and the damage as the 14 year old girl that I interviewed told me it does to sleep. And I think that's so important and an area that is under discussed when you're talking about kids.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

There's actually some polls out there that show that 2/3 of voters would support some kind of ban on social media. How much is that driving lawmakers thinking on this?

[Julie Serkin]

They are entirely motivated by the constituents that would reelect them in the next election. So I'm sure that is a huge reason why you have lawmakers coming together, even those that typically would never work together on issues like this, to try and say, look, enough is enough.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

About a month ago, Australia decided to ban social media for anyone under the age of 16. How closely are they watching how that plays out? Because 4.7 million accounts it seems were banned with this ban for kids under the age of 16. You had the Prime Minister saying, and I quote, it's working. This was world leading legislation, but is now being followed up around the world. How much are US lawmakers looking at that and saying, see, it's working for them, we have to do it.

[Julie Serkin]

Look at the state level, right, you have 18 states that have banned social media use during school hours. You have 11 that have policies restricting cell phone use in school. So states are paying attention, right? This is happening at the local level. But on the federal level you did have a meaningful piece of legislation that passed earlier this year or last year. I should say, gosh, we're already two weeks into 2026, a meaningful piece of legislation passed to at least make the minimum age 13 on social media apps and make that enforceable. Is that stunning that that wasn't even being enforced? So I think the US Government is unfortunately so far behind these efforts. We're seeing from other countries, uk, Norway, there are a lot of propositions on the books. They can't even get to a place where they put laws in place that make logical sense. Because of those pressures that I mentioned. Getting reelected, Money in big tech, and the age of lawmakers who some of them use flip phones, let alone understanding what smartphones do.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

That's incredible. But it's also not surprising that some lawmakers are still using flip phones when we talk about a stunning number. $11 billion. A 2023 Harvard study found social media companies, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, collectively making that much money. $11 billion. And then you have on top of that, the influencer economy. Right. People that are using these platforms to make money themselves. I'm sure even if this is for the collective good of kids under the age of 18 and or 16, depending on where they want to put this ban in place, they're going to be thinking about the dollars and cents of it all. And that's why some of these social media companies are probably going to come out against a potential ban like this.

[Julie Serkin]

Exactly. And they have. I'm thinking about the Kids Online Safety Act, Facebook, all of the meta platforms banned against it. I would hear immediate pushback from Metta every time I reported anything on that story. And it makes sense, right? I mean, you don't have to be a lawmaker and expert to understand that unless social media companies are forced and required by law to change their practices, they're not going to invest funding and research into an area that makes them less money. They're not going to ban their most profitable age group and their target consumers from using their platforms. They need federal regulation. And on the same token, parents that I spoke to need to be able to tell their kids, I have to keep social media away from you because that is against the law.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Where's the president stand on this? Because he did sign the take it down law. I mean, he's probably, I would argue, one of the most social media savvy presidents we've seen in the White House in that he uses it a lot to communicate with the public. Where is he on a potential move to ban social media for young people?

[Julie Serkin]

Well, you hit the dichotomy that the President is dealing with right there. Yasmin. He says that he wants to make social media, the online space, safer for kids. That was one of his first actions, inspired by the first lady, Melania Trump, to essentially ban deep fakes, especially for minors, online. That's the take it down act and give people the ability to sue and fight back against these companies, because that's a piece of this too. At the same time, he has delayed the sale of TikTok. He has sort of allowed the platform to continue to operate because look at his own election results in 2024. He has a lot of young men in particular, but young people in general to thank for his win.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

How likely is it, Julie, that they get a potential ban across the finish line? And how much is politics a part of that? And what I mean by that is these social media companies donate a lot of money to these lawmakers. How much is that playing into it?

[Julie Serkin]

It is playing a huge amount into it. I can ask Senator Josh Hawley this question and he'll have the same answer as an Elizabeth Warren. So they agree, they know what the problem is. But to give you an example, the Kids Online Safety act, that would just give parents more tools in their toolkit to, like I said, sue if something goes wrong. I had a parent who talked to me blamed the death of their child on social media. And yet Congress still can't get this across the finish line. They came really close in the Senate. They passed the Kids Online Safety act with a near unanimous vote and then it went nowhere in the House. And I asked them why. And the answer was big tech influence.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Julie Sorkin, thank you.

[Julie Serkin]

Thanks for having me.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

All right, let's get to some headlines. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit accusing ICE of racial profiling in Minneapolis. The suit alleges that federal agents arrested three Minnesotans without warrant or probable cause because the agents perceive them to be Somali or Latino. The Department of Homeland Security denied wrongdoing and called the allegations, quote, disgusting, reckless and categorically false. The Trump administration is sanctioning top Iranian officials that it says are responsible for brutal crackdowns on protesters. The list includes the head of Iran's National Security Council and several senior police officials. The sanctions also target 18 individuals and entities that the Treasury Department says help launder the proceeds of Iranian oil through so called shadow banking networks. Authorities have not given an official death toll in Iran, but the U. S based Human Rights Activist News agency estimates that 2,500 people have been killed in the mass protests inside the country. President Trump says he is backing the newly appointed Palestinian technocratic government in Gaza as the cease fire there enters its second phase. An international board of peace will oversee the new government for a transitional period. Trump himself is the chair of that board, an arrangement that many experts say is akin to a colonial structure. The plan for the second phase of the ceasefire includes disarming Hamas, facilitating a continued Israeli withdrawal, and deploying an international peacekeeping force. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast the second phase as largely symbolic, raising questions about how some of its more challenging elements will be carried out. The Los Angeles Dodgers are dropping some serious cash in an effort to bring home a third consecutive World Series title. ESPN reports that the Dodgers have locked down baseball's top ranked free agent, Kyle tucker. Forget this $240 million over the next four years. That deal would make Tucker one of the highest paid athletes in baseball history history coming in second by some measures only to Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani. In fact, the Dodgers will now have seven of the 29 biggest contracts in the major leagues. They better bring home a win with that money. And finally, we all know retro is in. Bell bottoms are back. The Oasis revival is in full swing. 20 somethings are all in on film cameras, but did you know that nostalgia extends to dating? More than 78% of Gen Z says they're ready to delete their dating apps, instead turning to irl that is in real life for you boomers. Ways to Meet People I spoke to people who place personal ads and outlets like New York Magazine.

[Ryan Nobles]

I'm a blue eyed, shaggy haired introvert but can open up quickly with the.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Right company seeking a classic yearner to laugh through life with.

[Ryan Nobles]

Seeking female 24 to 32 to adopt cat with after appropriate length core changes.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

For some people, it's working out. Brian and Brandi Littlefield met via local personals in Vermont and then they got married a year later. I read his post on there. His very first thing that he said was about being a dad, which was really important to me.

[Keith Morrison]

The first time I saw Brandi, I.

[Ryan Nobles]

Turned about the same shade as her sweater.

[Yasmin Dasgupta]

Here's to hoping sweet love finds you too. All right, that's going to do it for us at here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yazan Basugin. We'll be back Monday with whatever the news may bring. And if you like what you heard, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening and we'll see you Monday.