twitter change propaganda ads deniers target
Published on: January 13 2023 by pipiads
Table of Contents About twitter change propaganda ads deniers target
- Twitter Hired a Chinese SPY | Twitter Whistleblower Senate Hearing
- Facebook Admits They Sold Ads To Russian Propaganda Trolls
- Qatar’s World Cup Rainbow Ban & Japan’s Classy Victory Response | The Daily Show
- Google, Twitter, and Facebook CEOs testify at remote joint hearing before Congress
- Social media giants are vulnerable to foreign propaganda. What can they do to change?
- Pink Floyd co-founder explains meaning behind warning at the top of his show
Twitter Hired a Chinese SPY | Twitter Whistleblower Senate Hearing
Twitter is taking money from the Chinese Communist Party And it’s putting Twitter users at risk. Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell. This episode is sponsored by Surfshark. When you go online, you should be using a VPN like Surfshark to protect your identity. So Twitter, It’s more than just the raging dumpster fire of humanity. It’s also a place where the Chinese Communist Party can freely spread its propaganda, And Twitter will even help the Party spread that propaganda—for a price, Yes. a new, absolutely enraging report from Reuters shows how China became big business for Twitter, Even though, like most Western social media platforms, Twitter is banned in China. But you can still access Twitter inside China by using a VPN like Sufshark to get around China’s firewall. A VPN can help protect you while browsing the web anonymously, But it can’t protect you if you’re logged into Twitter, and Twitter is letting Chinese agents access your account information, Which is apparently what’s happening. If you didn’t already despise Twitter before this episode buckle up, it gets so much worse. It all started when Twitter decided it would be a great idea to make money in China, Specifically by selling ads to Chinese companies, and especially the Chinese Communist Party. According to Reuters, “Local government authorities and Chinese Communist Party propaganda offices for cities, provinces and even districts across the country have flocked to Twitter to buy ads”. It’s true that Twitter has closed thousands of China state-linked accounts for spreading propaganda. before, These were mostly shell accounts and bots, But Twitter has also suspended the accounts of a lot of individual Chinese users who’ve been critikal of the Chinese regime. Twitter employees have even helped China’s propaganda apparatus get its message across. They provided certain Chinese officials with support, like verifying their accounts and training them on how to amplify messages. It’s a balancing game. Look like you’re dealing with the propaganda problem while also training the Chinese government on how to spread their propaganda better. “Twitter’s China sales team actively courted local governments in the country as part of its global strategy to compete for ad business with tik rivals like Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook”. Twitter even attempted to set up what would’ve been the company’s first mainland China-based sales office, although that was “shut down in 2019 on data security concerns”. But still they got some of that sweet, sweet Chinese money, And by some I mean a lot. Twitter is making “hundreds of millions of dollars a year” from Chinese clients, Which makes China “one of Twitter’s largest non-US revenue streams”. Just as a little side note, if Twitter, which has a much smaller user base than Facebook or YouTube, is making hundreds of millions of dollars a year from China. just imagine how much Meta and Google are making. Or don’t imagine, if you want to sleep better at night. What kind of ads are Chinese entities running on Twitter? Well, in 2019, Twitter was able to cash in on Chinese state-run media ads critikizing the Hong Kong protests. Later in 2019,, under pressure, Twitter announced it would ban state-controlled media advertising. But then Twitter also made a bunch of exceptions because obviously they still wanted the money. State-run media could still advertise if they claim to be dedicated to entertainment, sports and travel. Chinese authorities kept buying Twitter ads for things like tourism, even though there’s been virtually no tourism to China since the pandemic began because of how strict their border controls are. But you get the sense that these ads aren’t really about tourism, Like this one about visiting Wuhan, the epicenter of the Covid outbreak. This tweet was part of an almost $300,000 Chinese government ad buy. Then, in March 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Twitter said they would eliminate even those exceptions- No state-run media advertising at all. Excepta Reuters investigation showed that Twitter *continued* to allow Chinese government and state-run media ads even after the ban. They documented an ad on visiting Shaanxi that was running this month, but which has been apparently deleted since the report was published. And here’s the problem with letting Chinese entities advertise on Twitter: It actually gives those Chinese entities access to user data. One cybersecurity researcher speculated that “users could be at risk through Custom Audiences, a tool that allows advertisers on the platform to review information about their target audiences”. This is a very real danger, since the Chinese regime has sent at least 50 Chinese Twitter users to prison for their posts. Which sounds bad, But, on the bright side, hundreds of millions of dollars. So what if some politikal dissidents get disappeared Now? this Reuters investigation came out. on the same day, a Twitter whistleblower testified in a Senate hearing about these security issues and more. And it gets scarier—after the break, Welcome back. Unless YouTube decides to demonetize and age-restrict this video. Not that a social media platform would be doing dirty business with China, Anyways…. The extent of Chinese influence in Twitter is coming to light thanks to a Reuters investigation and to former Twitter employee, Peiter Zatko, who blew the whistle at a US Senate hearing earlier this month. Zatko claims: “Twitter executives opted to allow Twitter to become more dependent upon revenue coming from Chinese entities, even though the Twitter service is blocked in China”. And, as I said, these ads also gave the Chinese government a type of access that put Twitter users in China at risk. According to Zatko’s whistleblower report, “Twitter executives knew that accepting Chinese money risked endangering users in China…. Twitter executives understood this constituted a major ethical compromise. Mr Zatko was told that Twitter was too dependent upon the revenue stream at this point to do anything other than increase it”. Here’s what he said during the Senate hearing. Grassley, While at Twitter, you raised concerns with their policy regarding Chinese advertisement, What was Twitter’s response, Zatko? In a nutshell, it was that we’re already in bed. it would be problematik if we lost that revenue stream, so figure out a way to make people comfortable with it. In other words, we’re already in bed with that smoking hot girl. we know is an assassin. Too late to get out now. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts. Zatko also claimed that Twitter didn’t actually know what kind of data they were giving China. They didn’t know what people they were putting at risk or what information they were even giving to the government, which made me concerned that they hadn’t thought through the problem in the first place that they were putting their users at risk for. And it gets worse. In his 84-page whistleblower complaint to US officials, Zatko alleged Twitter is highly vulnerable to abuse by foreign intelligence agents. According to the FBI, Twitter had actually employed at least one Chinese agent. “The corporate security [and] physical security team had been contacted and told there was at least one agent of the [Ministry of State Security], which is one of China’s intelligence services, on the payroll inside Twitter”. Twitter allegedly has problems with even identifying infiltration by foreign agents or its own employees. “When we did know of a person inside acting on behalf of a foreign interest as an unregistered agent, it was extremely difficult to track the people. There was a lack of logging and an ability to see what they were doing, what information was being accessed or to contain their activities. let
Facebook Admits They Sold Ads To Russian Propaganda Trolls
THE SPECIAL COUNSEL'S INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLE RUSSIAN COLLUSION BY THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN CONTINUES INTO THIS INVESTIGATION WILL FINDING MORE AND MORE INTERESTING TIDBITS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED DURING THIS PAST ELECTION, INFORMATION THAT WAS UNRAVELED BY OUR INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITIES. AND NOW WE HAVE EVEN MORE ELABORATE DETAIL INTO JUST HOW FAR RUSSIA WINS IN ORDER TO PLAY A ROLE IN OUR ELECTIONS. RECENTLY, FACEBOOK LET INVESTIGATORS KNOW THAT, THROUGH THEIR OWN INVESTIGATION INTO THEIR AD SALES, THEY FOUND THAT THEY HAD SOLD ADS TO INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE BASICALLY WORKING FOR THE INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY THAT IS A RUSSIAN TROLL FARM. THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO PURPOSEFULLY PUT OUT FAKE INFORMATION OR PROPAGANDA IN ORDER TO LEAD TO DIVISIVENESS AND NEGATIVITY AND OTHER THINGS THAT COULD POTENTIALLY SWAY SOME OF THE MORE VULNERABLE, UNDECIDED VOTERS OUT THERE. SO THERE WERE ABOUT 3300 ADS THAT HAD DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS THAT LED TO THIS PARtikULAR RUSSIAN COMPANY AGAIN THE INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY. CAN I JUST A REAL QUICK THAT EX-EMPLOYEES OF THAT PARtikULAR COMPANY HAVE COME OUT AND SAID: YES, WE DEFINITELY PUSH PRO-KREMLIN PROPAGANDA IN OTHER INSTANCES, AND THIS IS THE POST FROM EARLIER. BECAUSE THIS POST ABOUT BASIC JUST BROKE, OBVIOUSLY. FOR EXAMPLE, BORIS NAME SOFT, WHO WAS A PUTIN CRItik, WAS MURDERED IN 2015 AND THE SAME COMPANY IMMEDIATELY STARTED DOING PERSONAL ATTACKS ON HIS CHARACTER. AFTER HE WAS KILLED. I WONDER IF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT KILLED HIM. I CANNOT QUITE TELL, BUT THIS IS WHAT THEY DO AFTER: THEY KILL SOMEONE, THEY SMEAR THEM UNFORTUNATELY. WE SOMETIMES TO SEE THAT HERE IN AMERICA AS WELL, BUT THEY DIDN'T TURN THEIR TROLLING TO OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA AND, IN THIS CASE, TO OUR ELECTIONS. SO THE EARLIEST INSTANCE THAT FACEBOOK FOUND WAS BACK IN 2015, WHEN THE ELECTION SEASON STARTED TO REALLY RAMP UP. AND AT THAT POINT, THE ADS THAT WERE PUT OUT THERE- THE CONTENT THAT WAS PUT OUT THERE BY THIS RUSSIAN TROLL FARM, FOCUSED SPECIFICALLY ON HILLARY CLINTON AND DONALD TRUMP. ALTHOUGH, FACEBOOK IS REFUSING TO IDENTIFY WHICH CANDIDATE THESE TROLLS WERE ENDORSING. COME ON, YOU KNOW WHICH ONE IT WAS. EVERYONE KNOWS IT OF. IT TURNS OUT. FACEBOOK SAYS LATER, THEY WERE ACTUALLY SUPPORTING HILLARY CLINTON. THAT WOULD BE AMAZING AND WE WOULD REPORT THAT AND SAY, WELL, WE DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. THAT'S ALSO TERRIBLE, BY THE WAY, IF THEY WERE SUPPORTING HILLARY CLINTON, WE DON'T WANT ANY MEDDLING OF THE ELECTIONS. NO MATTER WHICH SIDE THEY ARE, OF COURSE IT WAS FOR DONALD TRUMP. HERE'S WHAT ELSE FACEBOOK FOUND DURING THEIR OWN INVESTIGATION. I WANT TO PAUSE THERE BECAUSE OF THE SUPER IMPORTANT. YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON ON THE INTERNET, BECAUSE THERE ARE TROLL FARMS OUT THERE AND THEIR WHOLE JOB IS TO DIVIDE US. MISSION NUMBER ONE FOR RUSSIA WAS CREATE, AND SO DIVISION WITHIN THE UNITED STATES AND CAUSE CHAOS. MISSION NUMBER TWO WAS. CAN YOU IMAGINE IF TRUMP GOT ELECTED KUESTER? THAT WOULD BE AMAZING, SINCE HE OWES US ALL THAT MONEY. THAT PART IS MY SPECULATION, BACKED UP BY OVERWHELMING CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. THAT IS ARTIE PUBLIC BUT I THINK THAT THEY PROBABLY, LIKE A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE THOUGHT. IT WAS A LONG SHOT BUT THEIR ADS DID GO TOWARD VERY LIKELY AND BASED ON WHAT WE KNOW ALREADY, WENT FOR DONALD TRUMP AND ATTACKING HILLARY CLINTON BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY. NEW YORK TIMES DID A STORY ABOUT SIX MONTHS AGO THAT THERE WAS ANOTHER TROLL FARM OUT OF MACEDONIA AND THEY WERE TRYING TO DIVIDE THE DEMOCRATS AGAIN. THAT HELPS TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICANS. BUT THE WAY THEY WERE DIVIDING DEMOCRATS WERE BY POSING AS BERNIE BROS, WHO WOULD THEN SAY SEXIST AND OUTRAGEOUS STUFF TO OTHER DEMOCRATS, SO THAT THE HILLARY CLINTON TEAM COULD THEN GO. YOU SEE THAT YOU SHOULDN'T TRUST THE BERNIE PEOPLE. HERE ARE THESE PEOPLE SAYING RUSSIAN THINGS AND IT TURNS OUT IT WAS THE RUSSIANS. THAT'S AMAZING NEW YORK TIMES STORY. THIS ONE IS A WASHINGTON POST STORY. WHEN YOU SEE PEOPLE THAT GO ON THESE HOT BUTTON ISSUES AND TRY TO PROVOKE YOU CALMED DOWN. IT MIGHT BE A TROLL IN EASTERN EUROPE, AND DO NOT BUY INTO THAT. WHEN YOU SEE ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS ON TV DIVIDING YOU, THAT IS REAL AND SO THAT IS A DIFFERENT CATEGORY. BUT THEY WANT US TO BE AT EACH OTHER ON SOCIAL MEDIA, SO DON'T HELP THEM. DO THAT. IT'S INCREDIBLE HOW MUCH IT WORKED, BECAUSE I AM SURE WE ALL EXPERIENCED IT. WHERE YOU SEE AN ARtikLE THAT HAS OUTLANDISH ALLEGATIONS AND CLAIMS AND PEOPLE WILL BUY INTO, AND THEN PEOPLE ENGAGE IN DEBATES AS TO WHETHER OR NOT IT IS REAL, WHETHER IT IS HILLARY CLINTON HAVING A TERMINAL ILLNESS OR SET THE BRIDGE ALLEGEDLY GETTING MURDERED BY SOMEONE IN THE DNC OR PIZZA GATE- ALL SORTS OF NONSENSE KEPT POPPING UP ON FACEBOOK. AND YOU KNOW- I DON'T KNOW IF THOSE SPECIFIC CONSPIRACIES AND FAKE NEWS STORIES CAME FOR SPECIFICALLY FROM THESE RUSSIAN TROLL FARMS BUT THAT IS THE KIND OF STUFF FOR USE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. AND WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE FACT THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE GET THEIR INFORMATION FROM WHAT IS SHARED ON SOCIAL MEDIA, IT IS CONCERNING, CAN I JUST ADD, BECAUSE I TOOK A LOT OF HEAT FROM FOLKS WHEN I SAID HILLARY CLINTON WAS NOT TERMINALLY ILL. WELL, I'M WAITING FOR YOUR APOLOGY, BECAUSE SHE HAS NOT DIED. YET YOU WERE CONVINCED THAT SHE HAD SOME SORT OF BRAIN TUMOR, SOMETHING LIKE THAT. THE SHE WAS COUGHING A LOT, LIKE WE DO ON THE SHOW. BY THE WAY, SOME OF IT WAS YOU GUYS- YOU GUYS MEANING A TINY SLIVER OF THE AUDIENCE, AND SOME OF IT WAS THE TROLLS WHO ARE LIKE WHATEVER- CNN, ETC, WHOEVER THEY DIRECTED TO YOU, ARE JUST SHILLING FOR HER, WHEN SHE OBVIOUSLY IS MENTALLY DISABLED. I HAVE SEEN THE DEBATES. THERE IS SOMEONE MENTALLY DISABLED THERE, AND IT IS NOT HILLARY CLINTON, BECAUSE, WITH THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES ON THE RIGHT AS WELL, WITH A LIKE, OBAMA IS GOING TO DO THE FEMA CAMPS. HE LEFT OFFICE. THERE ARE NO CAMPS. I AM STILL WAITING FOR THE APOLOGY. SOME OF IT HELPS HILLARY CLINTON AND THEY USED THAT TO SAY: HERE IS A TWITTER ACCOUNT WHO NO ONE CAN TRACE THAT SAYS SOMETHING SEXIST AND PRETENDED TO BE, FOR BERNIE SANDERS AND THE CLINTON MACHINE LOVED THAT AND THEY WOULD PURPOSEFULLY PICK THAT UP AND GO. YOU SEE THAT EVERYBODY WHO WAS IN FAVOR OF THE MOST LIBERAL SENATOR IN THE COUNTRY SEXIST AND RACIST. THEY USE IT FOR THEIR OWN PURPOSES. THERE WAS A LOT OF BAD INTENT ON A LOT OF SITES HERE. ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THE THING THAT I WANTED TO BRING UP IS NOW THAT WE HAVE THIS INFORMATION. IT IS UP TO INVESTIGATORS TO FIGURE OUT. WHETHER OR NOT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THE RUSSIAN TROLL FARM DID ON ITS OWN WITH THE INFLUENCE OF THE KREMLIN, IF THERE WAS SOME POTENTIAL, POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT BY THE TRUMP CAMP. WHETHER OR NOT, THE TRUMP CAMP DIRECTED INDIVIDUALS TO DO WHAT THEY DID WITH THESE FACEBOOK ADS. THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES AGAIN. IT IS A VERY SLOW AND STEADY DRIP OF INFORMATION THAT WE ARE GETTING BUT CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT IN NOVEMBER MARK ZUCKERBERG COMPLETELY DENIED THAT THERE WAS A FAKE NEWS PROGRAM ON FACEBOOK, IS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW FAR THEY HAVE COME IN ACCEPTING WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON. THERE'S A TON OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DONALD TRUMP AND THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT DURING THE CAMPAIGN AND WAY BEFORE IT. BUT TO BE FAIR, THERE IS NO SMOKING GUN YET ON THIS ISSUE OF TO THE TRUMP CAME CAN KNOW ABOUT THE TROLL FARMS. I HAVE NOTHING EVIDENCE OF THAT YET AND FACEBOOK HAS NOT PRESENTED EVIDENCE OF THAT YET. SO I JUST WANT TO BE FAIR AND CLEAR ON THAT. WHERE WE SUSPICIOUS OF THEM, THEY LIED ABOUT THE MEETING THAT THEY HAD WITH THOSE RUSSIAN OFFICIALS. THAT AND 1000 OTHER THINGS. THE TERM SOONER JUST CAME OUT AND SAID: I MET WITH THE RUSSIAN LAWYERS AND I KNOW IN THE EMAIL I SAID I'D LOVE TO THAT THEY WERE GOING TO GIVE ME INFORMATION ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON FROM A FOREIGN SOURCE. I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO GET IT FROM. I DIDN'T MEAN I LOVE IT THAT I'M GOING TO GET THAT ILLEGAL INFORMATION. I MEANT THAT I LOVE IT THAT THEY WERE SETTING UP THE MEETING. IT WAS SUCH A NICE THING FOR THEM TO DO. I WASN'T TRYING TO GET BAD INFORMATION ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON. I WAS JUST TRYING TO MAKE SURE SHE WAS PAPER OFFICE AND OKAY, COME ON, DOES ANYONE BE?
More:Taking conference swag to the next level
Qatar’s World Cup Rainbow Ban & Japan’s Classy Victory Response | The Daily Show
the 2022 World Cup is being hosted by Qatar, a Middle Eastern country with a deep and Rich history of having oil and uh. if you've been following the news, you know that there's been some controversies over Qatar hosting the World Cup. you know like: did Qatar offer bribes to FIFA to be the host? did Qatar exploit migrant workers to build the soccer stadiums? are we pronouncing Qatar rights? is it Qatar or is it Qatar or is it Qatar? and if we Mumble it, do you think they'll notike? all of these are questions, but one of the biggest controversies that Qatar has has been the fact that they have very strict laws prohibiting same-sex relationships, and these anti-gay policies are causing some tension on the pitch. amid the tears of World Cup fans, controversy is simmering. it's over the host country, Qatar, and other nations. treatment of lgbtq people, rainbow imagery, a sudden flash point after FIFA demanded the captains of seven European teams not where this armband in support of lgbtq causes, insisting the captains where FIFA sanctioned bands. the team captains of several countries say they will not be wearing the rainbow colored one love armbands, as they had intended after FIFA threatened to give players yellow cards just for doing so. after receiving two yellow cards, of course, a player will face a one-match suspension. yeah, that's right. the captains of seven European teams planned to show their support of the lgbtq community by wearing rainbow armbands, but then, when FIFA threatened them with yellow cards, they scrap the idea, which, in my opinion, shows that you're not the Ally you claim to be right. just like, hey, I support your right to live free from persecution. unless I get a warning in a game where I kick a ball, then I'm out. you guys are on your own. I'm just saying that's a yellow card. I mean, it's like a yellow car, it's not even like you're out, just a warning. and you're like: yeah, no, no, I can't. I tried. and, by the way, the rainbow band has got to be hard for the referees too. you know that's risky because the referees are out there and they're like: yellow card, red card. oh wait, we just started a rainbow. no, no, don't take me away. oh, a little crazy story as well. if you happen to be in China watching the World Cup, um, you, you probably are missing some things, because on the government TV network you'll barely see any footage of the fans at all. yeah, because China doesn't want its citizens to see people from every other country enjoying themselves without wearing masks. yeah, because they they like. they just don't want them to know that that's possible, you know, and since their footage should never show fans behaving rudely, because then Kenny's will be like: wait, other people are telling others to off. we didn't know we could do that, hey. but maybe my favorite part of the World Cup is seeing how people from different parts of the world find ways to yell at each other because, remember, a lot of the teams have coaches who are not from their country. you know like, for instance, Saudi Arabia's coach is actually French. he doesn't speak Arabic, but the Saudi translator doesn't speak French. so when the coach got mad at the team's performance in the first half, he had to yell at them in English so that the translator could yell at them in Arabic. what are we doing here at the middle of the beach? he has the Lord. you stand front of the defense. make your phone. you can make a picture with him if you want. foreign [Applause] people. a French man yelling in English to a group of Saudis about a British sport. it's beautiful. I also wonder if the translate is augmenting the message so he doesn't lose any friends. he's just like you are terrible. you are shocked. you should be ashamed of yourself, is what he said. because you know me, Mahmoud, I love you guys there. I thought you were great in the first stop. I thought you guys were great now. so far, this world cup has had a lot of Great Moments. you know, Saudi Arabia pulled off a huge upset over Powerhouse Argentina. Mexico had a heroic penalty save against Poland. Wales proved to the whole world that they are a different country than England, and one of the most exciting moments was when Japan defeated Germany in an incredible match. but my favorite part of that game was what the Japanese fans did after it. when Japan beat Germany, fans were ecstatik, right. but instead of leaving after the match to celebrate, hundreds of Japanese fans stayed in the stadium and picked up the trash that other fans Left Behind pictures on social media. so the Japanese fans threading their way through the seats, making sure the stadium was tidy, before leaving some online comments calling them the best guests in the world. wow, that is amazing. unfortunately, all of those Japanese fans were arrested because the Qatari police deemed the act of tidying up quote kind of gay [Applause]. now, I'm not gonna lie. this is one of the most amazing things to see, and you see that every World Cup, it'll be Japan, it'll be South Korea, and I think it's a valuable lesson to all of us. if you're throwing a party, make sure you invite Japanese fans to your house, because then you don't have to clean up. and you know, if you ask me, though, this is a huge Flex from the Japanese fans- everyone's like: oh, it's so humble. no, it's a flex. what is a more baller move than beating somebody and then cleaning up after them? yeah, like here. oh, let me take out your trash. oh oh, did you drop this? could you drop this? oh yeah, no, no, we'll clean up. you guys can go and figure out how to play soccer. yeah, we'll just do that. [Music].
Google, Twitter, and Facebook CEOs testify at remote joint hearing before Congress
>>>. tikNOLOGY AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION AND COMMERCE WILL NOW COME TO ORDER. TODAY, WE WILL BE HOLDING A JOINT HEARING ENTITLED DISINFORMATION NATION: SOCIAL MEDIA'S ROLE IN PROMOTING EXTREMISM AND MISINFORMATION. DUE TO THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY, TODAY'S HEARING IS BEING HELD REMOTELY. ALL MEMBERS AND WITNESSES WILL BE PARtikIPATING VIA VIDEO CONFERENCING. AS PART OF OUR HEARING, MICROPHONES WILL BE SET ON MUTE FOR THE PURPOSE OF ELIMINATING INADVERTENT BACKGROUND NOISE. MEMBERS AND WITNESSES, YOU WILL NEED TO UNMUTE YOUR MICROPHONES EACH TIME YOU WISH TO SPEAK. ADDITIONALLY, MEMBERS WILL NEED TO BE VISIBLE ON SCREEN IN ORDER TO BE RECOGNIZED. DUE TO THE ANtikIPATED LENGTH OF THIS HEARING, THE COMMITTEE WILL TAKE A 15-MINUTE RECESS AROUND 3:00 TO PROVIDE WITNESSES AND MEMBERS A RESTROOM BREAK. FINALLY, DOCUMENTS FOR THE RECORD CAN BE SENT TO ED KA KAZMARSKY AND JOE ON THE OTHER HAND -- ORLANDO. ALL DOCUMENTS WILL BE ENTERED INTO THE RECORD. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE HEARING, THE CHAIR WILL NOW RECOGNIZE HIMSELF FOR FIVE MINUTES. OUR NATION IS DROWNING IN DISINFORMATION. DRIVEN BY SOCIAL MEDIA, PLATFORMS THAT WERE ONCE USED TO SHARE PHOTOS OF KIDS WITH GRANDPARENTS ARE ALL TOO OFTEN HAVENS OF HATE, HARASSMENT AND DIVISION. THE WAY I SEE IT, THERE ARE TWO FACES TO EACH OF YOUR PLATFORMS. FACEBOOK HAS FAMILY AND FRIENDS, NEIGHBORHOOD BUT IT IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE ONE WHERE THERE IS A WHITE NATIONALIST RALLY EVERY DAY. YOU TUBE IS A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE SHARE QUIRKY VIDEOS BUT DOWN THE STREET. ANTIVACCORS, COVID, DENIER, QANON SUPPORTERS AND FLAT EARTHERS, HOLOCAUST DENIERS, TERRORIST ASKS, WORSE NOW. IT WOULD BE ONE THING IF EVERY USER CHOSE WHERE TO GO OERK ORGANICALLY BUT ALMOST EVERYTHING IS SCRIPTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS. FACEBOOK RECOGNIZES ANTISOCIAL TENDENCIES IN ONE USER AND INVITES THEM TO VISIT THE WHITE NATIONALISTS, SEES ANOTHER USER AS INTERESTED IN COVID-19, AND AUTO STARTS AN ANTI-VACC VIDEO ON TWITTER, A USER FONLLOWING A TRENDING CONVERSATION NEVER KNOW. IT'S COORDINATED BY BOTS RUN BY FOREIGN AGENTS. YOUR PLATFORMS HAVE CHANGED HOW PEOPLE ACROSS THE PLANET, COMMUNICATE, CONNECT, LEARN AND STAY INFORMED. THIS tikNOLOGY IS AWESOME AND TERRIFYING, AND EACH OF YOU HAS FAILED TO PROTECT YOUR USERS AND THE WORLD FROM THE WORST CONSEQUENCE OF YOUR CREATIONS. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THE THREE OF YOU HAVE APPEARED BEFORE CONGRESS SINCE THE DEADLY ATTACK ON THE CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6th. THAT WAS NOT ONLY TAN ATTACK ON OUR ELECTORAL PROCESS, BUT AN ATTACK ON EVERY MEMBER IN THE COMMITTEE AND IN THE CONGRESS. MANY OF US WERE ON THE HOUSE FLOOR AND IN THE CAPITOL WHEN THAT ATTACK OCCURRED AND WE WERE FORCED TO STOP CERTIFYING THE LE ELECTION AND RETREAT FOR SAFETY. WE FLED, AS A MOB, DESECRATED THE CAPITOL AND OUR DEMOCRAtik PROSE. PEOPLE DIED THAT DAY AND HUNDREDS WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED. THAT ATTACK AND THE MOVEMENT IT MOTIVATED, STARTED AND WAS NOURISHED ON YOUR PLATFORMS. YOUR PLATFORMS SUGGESTED GROUPS FOR PEOPLE TO JOIN: VIDEOS THEY SHOULD VIEW AND POSTS THEY SHOULD LIKE, DRIVING THIS MOVEMENT FORWARD WITH TERRIFYING SPEED AND EFFICIENCY. FBI DOCUMENTS SHOW THAT MANY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS USED YOUR PLATFORMS TO PLAN, RECRUIT AND EXECUTE THIS ATTACK. ACCORDING TO INDEPENDENT RESEARCH, USERS ON FACEBOOK WERE EXPOSED 1.1 BILLION TIMES TO MISINFORMATION RELATED TO THE ELECTION LAST YEAR, ALONE, DESPITE CHANGES TO YOUR POLICIES AND CLAIMS THAT YOU REMOVED ELECTION MISINFORMATION. OUR NATION IS IN THE MIDDLE OF A TERRIBLE PANDEMIC. NEARLY 550,000 AMERICANS HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES TO THIS DEADLY DISEASE, MORE THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY ON THE PLANET, AND AN INDEPENDENT STUDY FOUND THAT ON FACEBOOK, ALONE, THAT USERS ACROSS FIVE COUNTRIES, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES, WERE EXPOSED TO COVID DISINFORMATION AN ESTIMATED 3.8 BILLION TIMES. AGAIN, DESPITE CLAIMS OF FIXES AND REFORMS, AND NOW, AS THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS WORKING TO PUT IN PLACE A RESCUE PLAN AND GET VACCINES IN PEOPLE'S ARMS. WE ARE FACED WITH WAVES OF DISINFORMATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT THE SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF THESE SHOTS. THESE VACCINES ARE OUR BEST CHANCE TO FIGHT THIS VIRUS AND THE CONTENT THAT YOUR WEB SITES ARE STILL PROMOTING, STILL RECOMMENDING AND STILL SHARING IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST REASONS PEOPLE ARE REFUSING THE VACCINE AND THINGS HAVEN'T CHANGE. MY STAFF FOUND CONTENT ON YOU TUBE TELLING PEOPLE NOT TO GET VACCINES AND WAS RECOMMENDED TO SIMILAR VIDEOS. THE SAME WAS TRUE ON INSTAGRAM, WHERE IT WAS NOT EASY TO FIND VACCINE DISINFORMATION BUT PLATFORMS RECOMMENDED SIMILAR POSTS. THE SAME THING HAPPENED ON FACEBOOK, EXCEPT THEY ALSO HAD ANTI-VACC GROUPS TO SUGGEST AS WELL, AND TWITTER WAS NO DIFFERENT. IF YOU GO TO ANY OF THESE SUPER SPREADER ACCOUNTS THAT REMAIN UP, DESPITE THE POLICIES MEANT TO CURB THIS ANTI-VACC CONTENT. NOW, UNDERSTAND THIS, YOU CAN TAKE THIS CONTENT DOWN, YOU CAN REDUCE THE VISION, YOU CAN FIX THIS, BUT YOU CHOOSE NOT TO. WE SAW YOUR PLATFORMS REMOVE ISIS TERRORIST CONTENT. WE SAW YOU TAMP DOWN ON COVID MISINFORMATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC. WE HAVE SEEN DISINFORMATION DROP WHEN YOU HAVE PROMOTED RELIABLE NEWS SOURCES AND REMOVED SERIAL DISINFORMATION SUPER SPREADERS FROM YOUR PLATFORM. YOU HAVE THE MEANS, BUT TIME AFTER TIME, YOU ARE PICKING ENGAGEMENT AND PROFIT OVER THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF YOUR USERS, OUR NATION AND OUR DEMOCRACY. THESE ARE SERIOUS ISSUES AND, TO BE HONEST, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ALL JUST SHRUNK OFF BILLION DOLLAR FINES. YOUR COMPANIES NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. WE NEED RULES, REGULATIONS AND AUDIT AUTHORITY OF YOUR tikNOLOGIES. OURS IS THE COMMITTEE OF JURISDICTION AND WE WILL LEGISLATE TO STOP THIS. THE STAKES ARE SIMPLY TOO HIGH. THE CHAIR WILL NOW RECOGNIZE MR LATTA, RANKING MEMBER OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND tikNOLOGY, FOR FIVE MINUTES FOR HIS OPENING STATEMENT. >>. THANK YOU, CHAIRMAN, FOR RECOGNIZING ME, AND I WANT TO THANK OUR WITNESSES FOR BEING WITH US TODAY FOR A CONVERSATION THAT'S LONG OVERDUE IN THE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE. I'M DEEPLY CONCERNED BY YOUR DECISION, IN A VAGUE AND BIASSED MANNER WITH LITTLE TO NO ACCOUNTABILITY, WHILE USING SECTION 230 AS A SHIELD FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCE. THE COMPANIES HAVE THE POWER TO SILENCE. THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SHUT OFF LEGITIMATE JOURNALISM IN AUSTRALIA. SHUT DOWN LEGITIMATE SCIENTIFIC DEBATE ON A VARIETY OF ISSUES. DICTATE WHICH ARtikLES OR WEB SITES ARE SEEN BY AMERICANS WHEN THEY SEARCH THE INTERNET. WHEN THESE ACTIONS ARE TAKEN, USERS HAVE LITTLE TO NO RECOURSE TO APPEAL THE DECISION IF THEY ARE AWARE OF YOUR ACTIONS. IN MOST CASES, WE SIMPLY DON'T KNOW WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR EVERY DAY, AMERICANS, WE ARE ALL AWARE OF BIG tik'S EVER INCREASING CENSORSHIP OF VOICES AND THEIR COMMITMENT TO SERVE THE RADICAL, PROGRESSIVE AGENDA BY INFLUENCING A GENERATION OF CHILDREN BY CANCELLING ANY NEWS THAT AREN'T CONSIDERED WOKE. THIS IS FUNDAMENTALLY UN-AMERICAN. AT A RECENT HEARING ON DISINFORMATION AND EXTREMISM ONLINE, PROFESSOR TURLEY, ONE OF THE NATION'S FOREMOST EXPERTS ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, TESTIFIED ABOUT THE LITTLE BROTHER PROBLEM, A PROBLEM WHICH PRIVATE ENTITIES DO FOR THE GOVERNMENT WHICH IT CANNOT LEGALLY DO FOR OIRS ITSELF. AS OF JANUARY OF THIS YEAR, GOOGLE HAS A GREATER THAN 92 MARKET SHARE IN SEARCH, FACEBOOK HAS OVER 2.7 BILLION MONTHLY USERS AND TWITTER HAS 187 MILLION DAILY USERS. YOUR COMPANIES HAVE ENORMOUS CONTROL OVER WHOSE IDEAS ARE SEEN, READ OR HEARD AROUND THE WORLD. THIS GIVES YOU GREAT POWER AND, IF MISUSED, AS WE HAVE SEEN IN RECENT YEARS, YOUR ACTIONS HAVE A RIPPLE EFFECT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. THAT RESULT IN AMERICAN VOICES BEING REMOVED FOR THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS. WHILE THE LITTLE BROTHER PROBLEM OF CENSORSHIP IS FRIGHTENING ENOUGH, OTHER SERIOUS HARMS ARE OCCURRING ON THESE PLATFORMS THAT AFFECT ORDINARY AMERICANS, YOUNG A.
Social media giants are vulnerable to foreign propaganda. What can they do to change?
JUDY WOODRUFF On Capitol Hill, the first of two days of hearings exploring the role of social media in the 2016 election. Representatives from Facebook, Twitter and Google faced tough questions from a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. Nick Schifrin reports. NICK SCHIFRIN. For the first time, social media giants came to Congress to admit publicly their platforms have a politikal dark side. Facebook general counsel. Colin Stretch. COLIN STRETCH. Facebook General Counsel. The foreign interference we saw is reprehensible. NICK SCHIFRIN, Acting Twitter general counsel. Sean Edgett. SEAN EDGETT. Twitter General Counsel. The abuse of our platform to attempt state-sponsored manipulation of elections is a new challenge for us. NICK SCHIFRIN: That foreign actor is Russia, And Facebook, Twitter and Google today admitted Russia used the American tiknology giants to try to manipulate how Americans voted. COLIN STRETCH: That foreign actors hiding behind fake accounts abused our platform and other Internet services to try to sow division and discord and to try to undermine the election is directly contrary to our values and goes against everything Facebook stands for. NICK SCHIFRIN. On Facebook, from June 2015 to August 2017, 120 fake accounts posted 80,000 times and reached as many as 126 million Americans with content designed to be divisive, like the group Secured Borders falsely accusing liberals of banning the word Christmas and of President Trump wearing a Santa Claus outfit, falsely claiming President Barack Obama wanted to pardon 750,000 undocumented immigrants, or the group Defend the Second, saying gun rights are important because it's easier to get out of jail than out of a cemetery. Note the missing A a sure giveaway of a Russian speaker. Facebook says the ads were purchased and spread by Russian trolls believed to work in this St Petersburg building. Earlier this year, I met Marat Mindiyarov, who used to be one of those trolls. MARAT MINDIYAROV, Former Troll. Suddenly, you see a lot of comments at night and they're all the same. yes, And it's exactly the people doing their job. They have their topic, they have a time to do it, they write it and you see it. NICK SCHIFRIN: He posted under the headline "Can the US Take Russia Out" on 50 Web sites in 23 cities. and fellow trolls: Kiril Ivashkin, Gennady Orlov, Mike Brandon expressed the exact same thought: 600 posts from 70 fake accounts in 12 hours. just one battalion in a sock puppet army manufactured by a handful of trolls. As for Twitter, it said from last September through November 15, fake Russian accounts posted 1.4 million election-related tweets, nearly half of them automated. like Blacktivist, who depicted African-Americans as divided and destroyed by white society. SEAN EDGETT: If there is inflammatory content that some even would find to be upsetting, that's not the type of ad we want running on Twitter. NICK SCHIFRIN And Google admitted that fake Russian accounts opened 18 fake channels on its YouTube service. RICHARD SALGADO, Google. We understand that any misuse of our platforms for this purpose can be very serious. NICK SCHIFRIN. Congress is debating laws that would require the regulation of politikal ads on social media, similar to TV and radio regulation. The tiknology companies are promising to disclose who's buying the ads and who they're targeting, But some senators weren't convinced the companies could to avoid a repeat of 2016.. Democrat Al Franken, SEN. AL FRANKEN (D) Minnesota. You can't put together rubles with a politikal ad and go like: hmm, those two data points spell out something bad. COLIN STRETCH Senator, it's a signal we should have been alert to and in hindsight, it's one we missed, NICK SCHIFRIN. Republican John Kennedy SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R) Louisiana. I'm trying to get us down from la-la land here. The truth of the matter is you have five million advertisers that change every month, every minute, probably every second. You don't have the ability to know who every one of those advertisers is. do you, COLIN STRETCH, Seeing essentially behind the platform to understand if there are shell corporations? of course, the answer is no, NICK SCHIFRIN. The problem is enormous, but put into perspective. on Facebook and Twitter, Russian trolls produce about one-third of 1 percent of all content For the "PBS NewsHour". I'm Nick Schifrin, JUDY WOODRUFF, And to look deeper into how social media companies are dealing with foreign propaganda by Russian-linked politikal accounts, I'm joined by Thomas Rid, professor or strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, And Timothy Wu. he's a professor at Columbia Law School in New York City. He served as an adviser on the White House National Economic Council in 2016.. Gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. Thomas Wu to you first. Do we now understand why it was so easy for the Russians and others to infect these social media platforms with what they wanted to say? THOMAS RID, King's College London- You mean me? Thomas Rid first. JUDY WOODRUFF- I'm sorry, I misspoke Timothy Wu. yes, TIMOTHY WU, Columbia Law School. Oh sure, Sorry, I think we do. I think that what we learned from today's hearings is that the companies themselves are acknowledging that they do have a problem. They're open, They're big, automated machines. So, as I think Senator Kennedy put it, you know they have five million advertisers. Anyone can advertise very precisely to what they want, and they can also create fake accounts to spread whatever news they want. These are extremely vulnerable systems for foreign propaganda. JUDY WOODRUFF And Thomas Rid: these companies are now all acknowledging that their guard was down, that they didn't do enough to screen what was coming in. THOMAS RID: They do, but it's really important to distinguish between these companies, because they're different and the way they deal with this problem is also different. Facebook -- the market drives Facebook to fix the problem and to be more transparent, and they have been more transparent and they have tried to fix the problem. The opposite is true for Twitter. Twitter: the market drives Twitter to hide the problem and indeed to enable the removal of evidence. Why? Because, basically, Twitter has a different naming policy. You can have anonymous accounts on Twitter. You can have multiple accounts on Twitter, no real name required. So the more accounts there are on Twitter, the better Twitter looks on the market. so they're hiding a lot of automated activity on their platform. JUDY WOODRUFF, So Timothy Wu- in other words, it's easier on some of these platforms than on others, namely on Twitter than on Facebook, to get propaganda out. TIMOTHY WU- I'm not sure I entirely agree with that. I think that they both have similar incentives in the sense that they are both based on advertising model. In fact, Facebook has more of an advertising market share, And so they both are driven by the demand to have news, to have things shared, you know, to increase their share of attention, And they're both extremely automated. So I think there's a lot of similarities, some differences, but a lot of similarities. They both, structurally, are vulnerable to foreign propaganda in a way that broadcasting or newspapers are not, And I think that's the main issue here. JUDY WOODRUFF. So, Thomas Rid, after today's testimony and just based on what these companies are now saying, should we this confident that they are putting in screens, filters now that weren't there before? THOMAS RID? I think, again, I would be slightly more confident that Facebook is making the right moves. They have hired a large, excellent team. Let's be a little more concrete on the side of Twitter. The amount of automation- so-called bot accounts- on Twitter- is an open question. How many bots are there on Twitter? The academic estimates range from 15 percent, based on studies, to 23 percent. Now that could be as much as.
Pink Floyd co-founder explains meaning behind warning at the top of his show
>>> ON ROGER WATERS SOLO TOUR. INSTEAD OF TURNING DOWN THE POLItikS, HE'S AMPING IT UP TO 11.. LAST TIME HE PREACHED AGAINST DONALD TRUMP AND PAL TINE. IT REFERS TO POLICE MURDERING, BLACK MEN, SEMIAUTOMAtik WEAPONS AND VIDEO SCREENS IN THE SHAPE OF A CROSS. WHY WATERS TOUR DIFFERS FROM CLASSIC ROCKERS, STONES OR MEMBERS OF THE BEATLES? IT'S MORE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE THAN A CURRENT SHOW. THE ACTIVISM IS A KEY TO THE WHOLE THING. AS A LONG-TIME FAN OF WATERS MUSIC, I WANTED TO ASK ABOUT HIS MIX OF PERFORMING AND PREACHING. THINGS GOT A BIT ANIMATED, SO HERE'S THE QUOTE AS I UNDERSTAND IT: TO BEGIN THE SHOW: >>. IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE, I LOVE PINK FLOYD BUT CAN'T STAND. WATERS POLItikS, YOU MIGHT DO WELL TO [ BLEEP ] TO THE BAR. RIGHT YOUR. >>. YOU MIGHT DO WELL TO GO TO THE BAR. RIGHT NOW THE OUTSET OF THE SHOW, BECAUSE >>. IT'S A REALLY GOOD WAY TO START THE SHOW. IT SETS A FEW THINGS STRAIGHT >> NAMELY >>. WELL, IT ENCOURAGES PEOPLE THAT COME TO THE SHOW. THEY HAVE LISTENED TO EVERYTHING I'VE WRITTEN SINCE 1965 OR WHENEVER I STARTED WRITING. THEY DO KNOW WHAT MY POLItikS ARE. THEY DO UNDERSTAND WHAT MY HEART IS. THEY UNDERSTAND WHY I'M THERE. MAYBE IT GIVES A MESSAGE TO PEOPLE THAT DON'T WANT TO BE THERE. THEM EFING OFF TO THE BAR IS PROBABLY NOT A BAD IDEA, EXCEPT THAT YOU NEVER KNOW THOSE PEOPLE IF THEY SIT IN A COMMUNITY, LIKE MY AUDIENCE IS ON THESE SHOWS OF. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THERE IS SUCH A GREAT FEELING OF COMMUNICATION IN THAT ROOM, BETWEEN ME AND THE AUDIENCE, AND BETWEEN US, COMBINED WITH ALL OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, ALL OVER THE REST OF THE WORLD. IF THIS IS NOT A DRILL OR A MESSAGE, IT'S THAT WE HAVE TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE OR ANOTHER. >>. TO THE GUY THAT SAYS: SHUT THE EF UP, PLAY THE HITS, AS LONG AS HE DOESN'T SHOUT IT OUT. DO YOU WANT HIM IN THE ARENA? >>. I DON'T NOT WANT HIM THERE SO LONG AS HE DOESN'T ANNOY THE PEOPLE THAT DO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE ARENA. >>. DO I HAVE TO BUY IN? DOES A PERSON IN THE CROWD HAVE TO BUY IN? TO THE MESSAGE: I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE MUSIC. SOME OF THE MESSAGES I CAN BUY INTO AND SOME I CAN'T. >>. I ONLY GOT ONE MESSAGE: TWO STRANGERS PASSING IN THE STREET AND IF THE GLANCES MEET, IF I AM YOU AND WHAT I SEE IS ME. THAT'S MY MESSAGE, AND THAT WAS IN 1970.. AND MY MESSAGE HASN'T CHANGED. I RECOGNIZE YOUR HUMANITY AND I RECOGNIZE THE RUSSIANS AND THE CHINESE AND THE UKRAINIANS AND THE PALESTINIANS. >>. ARE YOU AN EQUAL OFFENDER ON THIS TOUR? I REMEMBER THE LAST TOUR I CAME AND WATCHED VERY MUCH ABOUT TRUMP. IN THE CURRENT SHOW- A MONTAGE OF WAR CRIMINALS TO YOU, AND A PICTURE OF PRESIDENT BIDEN THAT SAYS JUST GETTING STARTED. WHAT'S THAT ALL ABOUT? >> JOE BIDEN IS FUELING THE FIRE IN THE UKRAINE FOR A START. THAT'S A HUGE CRIME. WHY WON'T THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ENCOURAGE ZELENSKYY TO NEGOTIATE MAKING THE NEED FOR THIS HORRIFIC, HORRENDOUS WAR? >> YOU'RE BLAMING -- >> WE DON'T KNOW. -- >> YOU'RE BLAMING THE PARTY THAT GOT INVADED. YOU GOT IT REVERSED. >> ANY WAR, WHEN IT START, YOU CAN LOOK AT THE HISTORY. YOU CAN SAY IT STARTED IN 2008.. OKAY, IT'S -- THIS WAR IS. THIS WAR IS ABOUT THE ACTION AND REACTION OF NATO PUSHING RIGHT UP TO THE RUSSIAN BORDER, WHICH THEY PROMISED THEY WOULDN'T DO WHEN GORBACHEV NEGOTIATED THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE USSR FROM THE WHOLE OF EASTERN EUROPE. >>. WHEN YOU SAY THIS, THEN I HAVE TO SAY: WHAT ABOUT OUR ROLE AS LIBERATORS? YOU OF ALL PEOPLE -- >> YOU HAVE NO ROLE AS LIBERATORS. >> WORLD WAR II: >> YOU GOT INTO WORLD WAR II BECAUSE OF PEARL HARBOR. YOU WERE COMPLETELY ISOLATIONIST, UNTIL. THAT SAD, THAT DEVASTATING, AWFUL DAY >>. I WOULD ARGUE WE WERE ALWAYS GOING TO GET IN, AND THAT PUSHED US IN. BUT, THANK GOD, THE UNITED STATES GOT IF RIGHT. YOU LOST YOUR FATHER IN WORLD WAR II. THANK GOD, THE UNITED STATES. --. >>. THANK GOD, THE RUSSIANS HAD ALREADY WON THE BLOODY WAR ALMOST BY THEN. DON'T FORGET, 23 MILLION RUSSIANS DIED PROTECTING YOU AND ME FROM THE NAZI MENACE. >>. YOU WOULD THINK THE RUSSIANS WOULD HAVE LEARNED THEIR LESSON FROM WAR AND WOULDN'T HAVE INVADED UKRAINE FAIR. >> YOU, WITH ALL YOUR --. I WOULD SUGGEST TO YOU, MICHAEL, THAT YOU GO AWAY AND READ A BIT MORE AND THEN TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE UNITED STATES WOULD DO IF THE CHINESE WERE PUTTING NUCLEAR-ARMED MISSILES INTO MEXICO AND CANADA. >>. THE CHINESE ARE TOO BUSY ENCIRCLING TAIWAN AS WE SPEAK. OKAY, >>, THEY'RE NOT ENCIRCLING TAIWAN. TAIWAN IS PART OF CHINA. THAT'S BEEN ABSOLUTELY ACCEPTED BY THE WHOLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1948.. AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW THAT YOU'RE NOT READING ENOUGH, GO AND READ ABOUT IT. >> OKAY, DID WE SOLVE ANYTHING HERE TODAY? >> NO, WELL, YEAH, WE DID. I MEAN NO, WE DIDN'T, BECAUSE YOU'RE BELIEVING YOUR PROPAGANDA, YOUR SIDE'S PROPAGANDA >>. YOU'RE DEFINING IT AS PROPAGANDA. >> TAIWAN: YOU CAN'T HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS AND YOU CAN'T HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT TAIWAN WITHOUT ACTUALLY DOING THE READING. >>. ROGER, IF YOU ARE HAVING A CONVERSATION ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS, AT THE TOP OF THE LIST OF OFFENDERS ARE THE CHINESE. WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE WESTERN WORLD -- >> AT THE TOP OF YOUR? --. THE CHINESE DIDN'T INVADE IRAQ AND KILL A MILLION PEOPLE IN 2003.. IN FACT, AS FAR AS I CAN RECALL, HANG ON A MINUTE. WHO HAVE THE CHINESE INVADED AND MURDERED, SLAUGHTERED? >> THEIR OWN? >> BULLOCKS? THAT'S ABSOLUTE NONSENSE, COMPLETE NONSENSE. YOU SHOULD GO AWAY AND READ. BUT READ SOME PROPER -- >>. HEY, MY PROBLEM IS I SPEND TOO MUCH READING YOUR LINER NOTES. THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS. >>. THANK YOU FOR tokING TO ME. >> I APPRECIATE >>. IT IS ALWAYS A PLEASURE >>. IS IT OKAY?