>> tonight on pbs news weekend. as the campaign season ramps up, the world social media and tech companies are playing in this ye's elections. what a wave of german protests against the rise of the far right means for the nation and its politics. and dating with disabilities. how people in the disability community are navigating relationships and finding love. >> nondisabled people really buy

into the notions perpetuated around disability and disabled people. there is an idea we should feel grateful to be asked on a date or be partnered with. which is totally not the case. ♪ >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by. >> cunard is a proud supporter television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure. and british style. all with cunard's white star service.

>> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. >> this made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> good. ein john yang. as israeli prime minister benjamin and yahoo! with ground to solve on rafa in the southern border with egypt, israel continues bombarding the city from the skies. hospitals say 44 palestinians were killed and more than one

dozen children. israeli military officials said two hamas operatives were among the dead. families dread what may lie ahead. >> the ground operation is looming and they will do in rafa what they did in the north. there were massacres in the world was silent. >> it has become a haven for half of gaza's more than 2 million people who fled fighting for the rest of gaza. u.s. officials have become critical of israel. president biden said the military campaign in gaza has been over the top. overnight, russian drone attack in ukraine's second largest city has killed seven people, including three young children. a massive blaze from an oil depot hit spread to homes. more than 50 people were evacuated. in washington, senators are pressing ahead with the $95 billion foreign aid bill including money for ukraine. in pakistan, a surprising outcome from the national elections has thrown the country

into political chaos. candidates backed by the imprison opposition leader have won the most seats in parliament, though they fell short of the majority. supporters gathered outside the election commission. they say vote rating -- vote rigging denied them enough seats to form a government by them selves. the three-time minister who party won the second most number of seats said he would begin talks to form a governing coalition. still to come on pbs news weekend. rising political tensions in germany over the growing popularity of the far right. and how people with disabilities navigate the dating world. >> this is pbs news weekend from w eta studios in washington, home of the pbs newshour. weeknights on pbs. >> earlier this week is the 2024 election campaigns picked up

steam, metta announced it would start ai generated images appearing on facebook, instagram, and threats to help users better judge what they are seeing. in december, and advocacy group called free press said metta, youtube, and x rollback seven policies intended to protect against hate speech and misinformation. the group also said layoffs at three companies make it harder to enforce the safeguards that remain. katie harb as is chief of global affairs officers at duco, a technology firm. she's a former public policy director at facebook. this announcement, how big a deal is it? how helpful is it going to be? is it enough? >> this is one of many important steps my platforms have to take when thinking about safeguarding elections area not only in the u.s., but around the globe. we are facing new challenges with ai and existinchallenges that have been around for a long

time such as disinformation, foreign interference, transparency around political ads. one of the challenges into the cycle is the question whether or not the platforms are prepared if we just don't know. they are putting investment, making a lot of changes. but we don't kn the twists and turns that await us over the course of this next year. the real proof will be how these companies act as these different elections happen and as we see different forms of nefarious interference happen. >> given the unknowns, do we start the election season more vulnerable or less vulnerable than 2020? >> hard to say if it is more or less. it is different. on top of the legacy platforms, you have a lot of newer platforms that for the first time are having to write the policies and build the tools for elections such as these. it is more of a kaleidoscope or

a myriad of different policies that we are looking at. that makes some of this so uncertain and, -- comfortable. we at least know these companies are paying attention. >> talk about the differences, the new boys on the block. as opposed to the legacy platforms, do you have any sense of how they are developing policies and how they compare to the legacy companies? >> absolutely. some such as tiktok have invested a lot into this. in a recent hearing, their ceo said they would invest $2 billion into trust and safety. meta spent $20 billion over the last five or six years. some platforms like tiktok deciding not to allow political ads altogether. others are choosing to also deemphasize politics where platforms are trying to lean into politics. some are taking a very hands-off approach to content moderation. others are putting more time and effort into it.

this makes it really challenging to understand the differences between all these platforms as they are trying to learn the lessons from the past but understand the responsibility they have going into this. >> two of the legacy platforms, youtube and metta say they are allowing ads. the validity of the 2020 election, which led to the january 6 assault of the capital, athe same time, they are not allowing ads that would weaken or question current ongoing elections or future elections. is it slicing it then? can we make that distinction? >> all of these policies are about nuance and trade-offs. even defining what is political is a very difficult thing in which to do. it is in these nuances where you see more of the difficult calls and disagreements around it. and where you see challenges for these companies in enforcement trying to determine what is or

is not allowed. we should never expect there will be a 100% perfection by these companies in order to try and find it. it is hard to do a blunt approach to this. if you do, you take down more legitimate speech than probably what many people would want. >> 2024 is one of the greatest concentrations of elections around the world in a long time. our platforms doing enough to protect those international elections as well as elections in the u.s.? >> this is one of the biggest open questions for me. some of the platforms have announced things they are doing for the upcoming indonesian elections, mexico elections coming up. they are not being as transparent on what that means around the globe. traditionally, we have seen a lot more time, money, and effort put into the english language into elections in the u.s. and the eu. i'm worried so much attention will get sucked into those elections that we will forget

about these elections all around the globe. they will have just as much impact of the future of the global world order and how we handle issues on everything from climate change to other geopolitical issues. >> do you think self-regulation by these platforms will be enough, or will the government have enough to step in with regulation? >> everyone has a will. technology is moving so fast you have to start with self-regulation. you are seeing ai issues. we also see the government. one of the challenges with this is no one is comfortable with the tech companies in charge, the government in charge, or others. i thinke need to build a system of checks and balances so we are holding all of these different entities accountable for the role that they need to play in safeguarding our information environment and elections overall. >> katie, thank you very much.

♪ for weeks, germans have been flooding into streets, squares, and parks protesting the increasing influence of far right parties. it comes as germany's leading far right party suffered a narrow defeat in regional elections in one of its strongholds. allie rogan explores the impact of this increasingly tense political atmosphere. >> the catalyst for the protest came with a recent rt by the media outlet that details a meeting between leaders of the far right afd, or the alternative for germany party, and members of a separate extremist movement. in the meeting, they discussed a plan for re-migration involving mass deportation of immigrants, including some with german citizenship. the afd has distanced itself from the meeting, buthat has not slowed the demonstrations.

some protesters are calling for an outright ban of the afd, which is seen as too aligned with germany's nazi past. james angelos is an analyst for politico in berlin. tell us about who the members of the afd party are and how much influence they have with germany right now. >> the party had been rising leading up to this report. it is second right now, polling second behinthe opposition conservatives. right now the party is more popular than the parties in the german government. there are three parties making up the ruling coalition. the afd is more popular than all three of them. >> what is happening politically in germany making them more popular? >> there has been a rise of asylum-seekers entering germany from countries like syria and afghanistan. they are an anti-migration party. that is their core issue. there are other issues they are taking advantage of at the moment.

energy crisis skyrocketed following russia's invasion of ukraine, inflation, and the economy right now is not doing well. there is a general unease in the population that is also helping the party. they are particularly strong in the former east germany. there is also more sympathy for taking on a friendlier stance toward russia. >> the flip of rising popularity is as we have seen, rising opposition and more people speaking out against them. why are these protests happening now? >> the catalyst was in this report. combined with the fact the party has been rising in polls even as it has grown more extreme. this struck a nerve for multiple reasons, this gathering. people saw echoes of the nazi past. some politicians, you can call it a nazi party. the protests are ongoing, large, there is no sign they are winding down. the people who are organizing

them see themselves as standing up for the survival of the republic against a very acute and immediate threat. >> are the protests articulating demands, or speaking up against the afd? >> it is more about showing up and speaking out and showing the country there is a mass resistance against the party. there has been a small drop in support for the party. it does seem to have an impact. but the question is whether core support for the party erodes as a result of this. many believe it will not affect the core group of supporters. >> it also seems this is happening all around europe, in neighboring austria, there have also been protests against far right parties, that dynamic of a rise in a party bringing out more resistance. certainly there are far right parties entrenched in other parts of the european continent in hungary. shld we view this as a whole

or be paying more attention to the individual context of what is happening in each of these separate countries? >> the things happening in germany are not exclusive to germany. similar trends across europe and the u.s. what makes germany special case is the cognizance of the nazi past. within the german constitution, there are all of these safeguards to prevent far right or extreme parties from using democracy, using the ballot box to gain power and undermining the democracy. there is a big debate going on in germany about whether the best way forward would be to try and ban this party. that is equally possible to do in germany's postwar constitution. the question is whether that is tactically smart to do. the ift comes back and says you are going to try to ban us. that is antidemocratic and you are disenfranchising our supporters. the legal hurdles for trying to

ban the party are very high and people are afraid of the effort -- if the effort fails, it will strengthen the party. >> james angelos. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> with valentine's day just around the corner, love is on a lot of people's minds. but the course of true love never did run smooth, or in the case of some of the people on our next story, roll smooth. as stephanie sy tells us, people living with disabilities or chronic illnesses dating can come with unique challenges. >> claire smith and e monro mann have been dating for over a year. >> when are we going to go out? she is like whatever you ask me. i'm like i guess i've got to ask her. >> they met on instagram. while the couple lives on opposite coasts, their mutual

experience with chronic illnesses tied them together. >> within the first month or so, i had my headphones and listening to her vomiting a little bit. >> the next thing i know, you got a package. i think it is from her. it was a package of a ton of vomit bags. >> not exactly your traditional romantic gesture. but they found a special intimacy sharing their health challenges early on. >> we have to go over there -- the uncomfortable parts in the beginning really fast. either that person will be somebody you are comfortable with or not. >> but not everyone is ready to put it all out there from the start. >> one of the biggest challenges is even to decide when to come out or disclose your disability. especially if you either have a non-apparent or invisible

disability or you are using something like a dating profile. >> shannon is a sexuality researcher at the university of michigan. she's chronically ill and autistic. >> if you are a wheelchair user, do you put a picture of your chair in the profile or wait until you roll up to the cafe where you are both going on the first date and see if some but he turns around and walks out? >> one in four adults in the u.s. has a disability. they are half as likely as nondisabled people to have been married. we talked to more than a dozen people with disabilities in chronic illnesses. each navigating the dating world in their own way. >> there was a time at the beginning i would not put my disability at all anywhere in my profile. even in chatting with a match, i would not tell them. i would show up to the date and hope for the best. >> over time, chelsea, who has cerebral palsy, has changed her

approach. >> now i'm very open. i have it on my profile. i personally make a little joke out of it. i say i have rinse has parking, or i make something fun about my mobility scooter because that is my personality and i want them to know it is ok to talk about it. >> maxine star weeds out poor prospects with efficiency. >> it doesn't make sense to invest in a week or two, whatever, and tell the person, than they are not interested. >> she gets a lot of questions about her visual impairment. >> how do you get dressed? >> how did you get here? can you see that glass in front of you? it might have went to a natural date after that. but the reality kicked in once i brought the cane and took it out. >> russell says telling dates he's on the autism spectrum can quickly end the conversation. >> once they found out i was autistic, they unmatched me.

so i think a lot of people are scared. >> scared, or in jacqueline's experience, bigoted. she has a connective tissue -- tissue disorder. >> i experienced so much discrimination as a disabled woman. the most offensive was telling me to not have any biological children. >> this kind of discrimination against the disabled is referred to as ableism. it was childs' experiences on dating apps that inspired her and her sister to create their own. they called it date ality. >> we came up with a profile selection that is an extensive list of broad terms to describe a situation like compromise, wheelchair user, food allergy. it sends a signal to our users that we see you, we don't view your chronic illness or disability with shame. >> online dating apps are not for everyone. >> i'm too scared to do the

online thing. i would not disclose online to somebody i do not know and cannot see. >> more than three decades after the americans with disabilities act was passed, people with disabilities are often still excluded from and misunderstood by society. shayna katz qatari says it can create anxiety are on dating. >> i hope the tables are not hightops because my body cannot sit. it is trendy to have hightops. i hope we don't show up at a restaurant and i cannot sit. >> what are the misconceptions nondisabled people have about people with disabilities, their dating lives, their sex lives? >> nondisabled people really buy into the notions perpetuated around disability and disabled people, such as disabled folks are all asexual, which is not true. there is an idea to feel grateful to be asked on a date or be partnered with, which is not the case. >> even with loved ones, the conversation of dating can be

difficult. she said she had to convince her family she was ready to date. >> i was asked a lot of questions that i don't know if a lot of my friends were when they were talking to parents about dating. do you really think you should be doing this? >> if they are not well, do you think they can take care of you? >> i think we spend time focusing on the negative, what should be different. disabled folks, we are scrappy, we are creative. >> she believes people with disabilities are better at saying what they are loing for and what they need because they have to so often. >> i want someone that knows who they are, not afraid to be themselves. >> i need someone i can say like the past few days have been high-paying days for me. i can say to them i'm having a high pain day, and they will hug me or something. >> the most important one is if i have my cane. they are still not afraid to

hold my hand. or put their hand on my back. >> if i start sobbing, people will be like what the hell, he is a man. those few select special women can hold me and embrace me and all that i am through the peaks and valleys. >> most of all, that person not enabling me at all. treati me like a human being and not a person who is just fine with treating me like a village. >> mgoodness. look at you. >> just feeling seen by the other, whether long-distance or in person, is key. what are you doing when you feel the happiest together? >> i cannot express how many times i feel grateful to be holding her hand just getting through this, getting through a day of feeling so much pain or a day of feeling so much anxiety about everything. >> i was just sitting here

looking at her, it makes me so happy and fills me with pride and joy when i see here and i hear her talk. it has been so rewarding and so lovely to be on this journey with her. >> for pbs news weekend, i'm stephanie sy. >> tonight, we leave you with stunning images. the top five vote getters and wildlife photographer of the year, people's choice awards. an annual competition run by london's natural history museum. in first place, i sped, a polar bail napping on a small iceberg off of norway's small barda cabela go. a reminder of animals connection to habitats and the effects of climate change.

one of the other finalists is also from norway. moon jellyfish in a fjord illuminated by the aurora borealis, or northern lights. starling swirling together into the shape of a giant bird. the photographer spent hours following sterlings around rome until he saw this. shared parenting. lioness is morning grooming on one of the cubs in kenya. the mothers had been out hunting overnight and on the return called the cubs out from their hiding place. the photographer who took this image spotted a pond turtle walking through shallow water in an israeli swamp when a dragonfly landed on its nose. a serendipitous moment of symbiosis. and that is pbs news weekend for this saturday, i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. happy lunar new year. see you tomorrow.

>> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by. >> consumer cellular, this is sam. >> this is a pocket dial. somebody's pocket thought i would let you know with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pb station from viewers like you. thank you.

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