wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. amna: good evening. geoff bennett is away. on the newshour tonight, the senate passes a bipartisan bill for aid to israel and ukraine, but hard-line immigration politics threaten its future in the house. doctors sound the alarm about a cheap and easy to find supplement known as a station heroin, part of a growing group

of unregulated and intentionally addictive products. and fresh off reelection, the president of el salvador continues his gang crackdown, which has already fueled mass arrests and concerns about democracy. >> the challenge is helping people who have been subjected to the terror of gangs for decades process what might have been lost in exchange for that security. >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> cunard is a proud supporter of public 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. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> 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 pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. a big day on capitol hill, where early this morning u.s. senators passed a $95 billion plan to fund ukraine, israel, and other foreign aid, and where tonight the house of representatives plans another attempt at impeaching homeland security secretary alejandra may arcus. lisa desjardins is there and joins me now. just a few days ago it wasn't even clear this bill could get through the senate. what happened? lisa: there was a rare weekend session after the tumultuous week last week and after overnight work that ended in a 6:00 a.m. boat, where overwhelmingly the senate voted

to pass this ukraine foreign aid bill. it is a $95 billion bill. the largest amount is four ukraine, $60 million. there is also money for israel, $14 billion. just under $10 billion for humanitarian aid, including civilians in gaza. there are sanctions and penalties on fentanyl, on international operations and countries found to be complicit with fentanyl. here is what happened. in the end, it was veteran senators feeling there was a complete need to support ukraine. let's look at who voted for this. republican senators, 22 of them. you can see looking at those faces, that is a full spectrum from very conservative to more in the middle. i want to look at this group in another important way, the map of where these senators are from. senators supporting this ukraine foreign aid bill come from middle of the country and the heart of the republican party as

well as mag a country, trump country. many of these are big trump states. 70 votes for this bill. all of this, the culmination of zelenskyy coming, personally pleading with senators. he was able to get more than enough republican votes in the senate today. amna: the bill now moves to the house. how strong is opposition to that bill, and how are president biden and other supporters of the plan taking that on? lisa: there is very strong opposition by some republicans for a variety of reasons in the house. there is going to be quite a climb. it will be an obstacle. the white house, president biden are aware, took this on today. he said funding ukraine is an existential matter, not just for ukraine, but for the world. pres. biden: if we do not stop putin's appetite for control and power in ukraine, he will not limit himself just to ukraine. the cost for america and our allies and partners will rise.

for republicans in congress who think they can oppose funding for ukraine and not be held accountable, history is watching. amna: opponents, some say they want other things added to this bill. those who oppose ukraine aid specifically say they think this is a misplaced priority. here is senator rand paul speaking last night. sen. paul: the more accurate title for this bill would be, ukraine first, america last. because they are prioritizing the border of ukraine over the border of the united states. amna: here is where it gets even more interesting and difficult. speaker mike johnson of the house has said today, and i have confirmed, that he will not bring up this senate passed bill even though it got 70 votes, an overwhelming vote, in the senate. why? he said it needs a border element in it.

that is not really a critique of the ukraine or israel funding, any of it, he is trying to bring in the border element. i do not have to tell you it was house republicans who originally said these bills must be linked, ukraine and the border, but it is also republicans who walked away from the compromise bill last week in the senate. again here we are with republicans saying it has to be back in. a bit of whiplash and a difficult position for ukraine allies navigating here. amna: given that, is there any way we can know what to expect in the house on this bill? lisa: there are options. the first, as i mentioned, house speaker mike johnson could bring this up for a vote. let's rule that out. he said he will not do that now. there could be a discharge petition. if the majority of the house signs a petition, they could force a vote on the bill. i am told the votes are there, but it is a question of timing, whether and when that could happen. because, here is the other option. the house could actually float a

different bill, perhaps another compromise on the border. tonight i did speak to the house armed services chairman, mike rogers, a republican, and he said that is what he wants to do. he wants to move away from the house version of border security and come up with a new compromise. is there time for that? ukraine allies say no. but that idea is putting a pause on other mechanisms that could get the bill through the house. the votes are here, it is a question of how, if and when it this senate bill moves. amna: house republicans again tonight will try to vote to impeach homeland security secretary mayorkas. they tried and failed last week. what has changed since? lisa: one thing has changed. representative steve scalise of louisiana, number two in the house, is expected to attend. he was out because he was receiving cancer treatment last week. his vote could and should make the difference for house republicans to get just enough to pass this impeachment resolution. if there are no trouble problems, we expect the house to take that vote and move forward on impeachment tonight. amna: lisa desjardins on capitol

hill tonight. lisa, thank you. lisa: you're welcome. ♪ stephanie: i am stephanie sy with newshour west updating our top story. republicans in the house did succeed in impeaching homeland security sec. alejandra mayorkas over the border crisis. the final tally, 214 to 213 in a historic vote, the first time a sitting cabinet secretary has been impeached. articles of impeachment, which include accusations that mayorkas willfully and systematically refused to enforce immigration laws, will be presented to the senate when they return from recess. lisa desjardins reports a trial date has been set for february 27. in the days other headlines, the labor department's latest look at the u.s. economy raises new questions about how fast inflation is easing. consumer prices in january were

up 3.1% from a year ago, smaller than the annual increase in december. but month to month, prices rose 0.3% -- and that was slightly more than in december. analysts attribute much of the rise to the rising costs of homes, rentals and hotel rooms. a winter storm disrupted schools, commutes and flights across much of the northeast today. snow fell from new york city to massachusetts, and parts of pennsylvania got 15 inches. the storm also brought winds gusting 60 miles an hour and coastal flooding in some areas. many government offices and schools closed, and more than a thousand flights were canceled. the heads of the cia and israel's spy agency discussed a possible cease-fire in gaza today with the leaders of egypt and qatar. the session in cairo came as israel threatens an all-out ground assault on rafah, where some 1.4 million palestinians are sheltering.

more of those refugees packed up and left today after shelling overnight. israel says it is working on plans to move them and u.s. officials insisted again that they be protected. >> any credible plan that could be executable would have to take into account their physical movement, safe movement, as well as proper sustenance for them -- food, water, medicine. access to health care. stephanie: also today, the state department said it is investigating reports that israeli forces killed a 17-year-old palestinian-american in the west bank on saturday. the pentagon secretary says defense secretary lloyd austin has been released from the hospital and resumed his duties. austin was being treated for bladder complications from a prostate cancer surgery. a special congressional election in new york is being closely watched tonight. democrat tom suozzi faces republican mazi pilip in a contest with a heavy focus on the influx of migrants. the winner replaces republican george santos, who was expelled

from the house in december over charges of corruption and stealing campaign cash. the death toll from last summer's maui wildfire rose to 101 today. please confirmed the identity of a 76-year-old man who had been missing since august. the fire was the deadliest u.s. wildfire in more than a century. and the reconstruction of paris's famed notre dame cathedral has reached a new milestone. scaffolding is being removed from the top of the medieval landmark for the first time since a devastating fire in 2019. it reveals a new spire with a golden rooster and cross. the cathedral is expected to reopen in december. still to come on the "newshour," ai generated misinformation threatens election integrity. privacy concerns lead so-called "momfluencers" to stop showing their kids on social media. actor jeffrey wright discusses his oscar-nominated role in the

film "american fiction," and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: from robo calls to deepfakes, artificial intelligence is already playing a role in the 2024 election. today the washington post and axios reported a group of leading tech companies, including meta, google and tiktok, admitted to misleading ai content on their platforms. laura barrón-lópez has been covering what this means for the upcoming election and joined me now. how have we seen ai already playing a role in the election? laura: last week the federal communications commission ruled that robo calls using ai generated content are illegal. that comes after the new hampshire attorney general launched an investigation into robo calls that used ai to impersonate president joe

biden's voice leading up to the new hampshire primary and that investigation so far traced those robo calls back to a texas company called life corp. that investigation is still ongoing. last year we saw a number of ads using ai generative content with -- content, including the rnc putting out a video of joe biden using ai generated image and video to depict a dystopian future under a second biden term. we also saw a ron desantis, the super pac aligned with ron desantis' campaign, using ai to mimic donald trump's voice, and vice versa, donald trump's campaign putting out video using ai that impersonated ron desantis' voice. you are seeing a suite of ai being used, particularly by republicans. in preparation for this, the biden campaign told me they have assembled attorneys as well as legal academics to combat this

content. amna: what are the concerns when it comes to the election? what have experts told you about how ai is a potential threat to democracy? laura: this is a change in degree. it is not that ai has not been used before in past elections, but it is that ai generative tools are now more widely available and much more sophisticated. the ai threats in 2024 include robo calls that come clone a voice, fishing emails that replicate official templates, increasingly realistic deepfake video and photography, and spoof accounts impersonating officials, offices and news outlets. unlike 2016, ai is faster, cheaper, easier to make because of the widely available generative ai tools. i spoke to katie reisner, senior counsel at states united democracy, a nonpartisan group focused on election security. she summed up the dangers. >> election officials are

already doing their jobs in such an elevated threat environment. they are facing harassment, threats of physical violence, disruptions to their administration of elections. they are having trouble recruiting sufficient staff and coworkers and alternately they don't have enough resources. adding artificial intelligence to this mix is potentially going to make these elections officials' jobs even more difficult. it is like pouring accelerant on this already very flammable substance. laura: you may remember in the aftermath of 2020 and 2022, there were republicans and people circulating debunked video of what they called poll workers cheating or throwing away ballots. what ai gives bad actors the ability to do is to recirculate that video, manipulate it to make it look real amna: those videos and emails, the images, the robo calls, are they being targeted at certain groups?

who is most at risk when it comes to being impacted by ai in an election year? laura: the new power of ai allows bad actors to target specific groups. in 2020, minority communities were targeted with robo calls that discouraged them from voting. but now because ai generative tools are much more sophisticated, it allows creators to tailor content specifically to certain communities and make emails and calls much more convincing. amna: meta announced they will be flagging images and ai generated content there. more broadly, is there enough being done to safeguard against this kind of content? laura: even though those companies, as you said, are deciding to label the content, they are not outright banning it. notably x, formerly twitter, has not agreed to label content that -- label ai generative content that might be fake. i spoke to experts like the director of elections and

democracy at brennan center for justice, and he told me that labeling ai imagery and video is a good first step, but ultimately it is on the companies to be the gatekeepers and to protect democracy. >> they i think have the responsibility not only to ensure that, to the extent possible, that anything generated by ai is labeled for the public, but to increase their trust and safety teams, to be on the lookout for coordinated bot activity that might be disinformation campaigns, to be on the lookout for fake news sites and to take those down when they find them. i would like to see them take as much responsibility for the democracy and the integrity of our democracy. laura: policing is all on the tech companies because there is no federal legislation mandating tech companies do this. they have to do it of their own accord. also there is no federal legislation banning the use of

ai content in political ads. even if there were, that does not stop foreign actors from using it. amna: what about the people seeing this content? what can they do to stay vigilant and not get fooled? laura: this technology is very confusing for a lot of people and many may not understand even the labeling companies are saying they will put on ai generative content. labeling is not always easy to even see on an ad or on videos or photographs. advice experts give is to trust known sources. if you see something you think might be fake floating around on the internet or social media or from an influencer, go to a known news outlet. also, if it is a question about voting, go to your local state, county election official websites. amna: great advice. important information. laura barron-lopez, thank you so much. laura: thank you. ♪ amna: amna: the food and drug

administration has issued warnings about a potentially addictive dietary supplement bets widely available in the u.s. ali rogin has the latest. ali: the fda is asking americans not to purchase or use any products from the supplemental brand neptune's fix . it contains a substance called tianeptine. some countries have approved drug to treat depression and anxiety. it is unapproved in the u.s. but is readily available in store shelves and online. it has been nicknamed gas station heroin and it can be highly addictive. an uptick in use has caused the fda to release several warnings and its side effects, including seizures, loss of consciousness and death. an associate professor of medicine at harvard medical school joins me now. thank you. can you explain exactly what tianeptine is? >> it is a pharmaceutical drug originally produced in europe as

an antidepressant. unfortunately, at higher levels it can be addictive, and for that reason has not gotten widespread use. it has never been approved for use for any medical reason in the united states. ali: if it has not been approved for use, how is it that it can be sold in the united states? >> what we see as a common and sadly tragic pattern is that many companies take foreign drugs and introduce them directly to consumers in the united states by selling them as if they are dietary supplements. they just appear on the market and start selling them to consumers. ali: we spoke to two health professionals who have seen patients who have been using tianeptine and i want to play some of what they told us. >> these patients definitely have increased heart rates, they are very agitated, and they will admit they use a lot of the product. in other words, they are using

it very routinely, they have built up such a high tolerance to it and a craving for it that they will go to great lengths to get it. the presentation of the withdrawal will be similar to somebody potentially going through oxycodone withdrawal, heroin withdrawal. >> we are putting a fair number of people in intensive care units because they were becoming so agitated, so confused. there were concerns for heart problems, people having seizures. while some people with withdrawal fatter earns may just death with withdrawal patterns may just feel uncomfortable, a fair number get very ill and require close monitoring. >> the last doctor said a fair number of people he is seeing. do we have a sense how big this problem is? >> it has ticked up over the last decade. back before 2015, we had never heard of tianeptine. poison control calls, reports to

the fda, very serious ones that were described from seizures to stopping breathing to the point of intubation and deaths have all been reported. they are coming in more frequently. >> the fda has issued several warnings over the past six years. we should also note that neptune's fix has agreed to a voluntary recall. are warnings all the fda can do? why are their hands seemingly so tied? >> there is two problems here. one problem is how it got to market in the first place. that is because there is no need for companies to vet products that they sell as dietary supplements with the fda before they are sold. that is a major problem and would require a change to the law. but there is a second major problem here, which is that the fda has been aware of tianeptine being imported into the united states since 2015.

that is nine years. it was in 2018 when they first warned about tianeptine. the fact it has been many years since the fda was aware of the risk and has done nothing other than issue a warning to consumers and the company is, frankly, embarrassing. they are neglecting their responsibility to protect people -- to protect the public from dangers. ali: does this represent negligence on part of the fda or is this simply how the regulatory framework has been constructed and has existed for so long? >> the fact tianeptine is sold in the united states in the first place, back in 2015, there is no negligence on the fda's part. that is how the regulatory system is structured. however, the fact it is still sold today and people are still dying and ending up in intensive care units due to tianeptine falls completely on the fda not doing their part ensuring dangerous supplements are

removed from the marketplace. ali: several states have taken the steps of banning tianeptine. do we expect other states to go in the same direction? >> unfortunately with the fda not moving definitively as they need to, and they could, the states are left to fend for themselves to protect their own citizens against dangerous dietary supplements such as tianeptine. i would expect more states to move aggressively against these products. ali: ali: is there a role congress could play? >> congress could have two very impactful roles. number one, they could ask the fda to enforce the law. when there are dangerous dietary supplements, they are removed from store shelves. the fda uses all their enforcement potential, including mandatory recalls, to do that job. the second thing they would need to do, if we are going to

protect consers from the next tianeptine down the road, is reform the law so the fda can ensure products are introduced into the united states dietary supplements are not foreign, dangerous drugs. ali: there are other dietary supplements but also are not regulated by the fda or approved, kratom among them. what are your concerns about those substances? >> freedom is another drug that is sold as -- kratom is another drug sold as a dietary supplements but should not be. the fda is not doing enough to get those off of store shelves. we studied one before and after fda warnings and found dosages of the fenibut actually increased in the products after fda warnings. the fda's actions are inadequate to date. they need to do a lot more because it is not just these three products -- tianeptine,

kratom, phenibut, but others. more than a dozen foreign drugs being sold currently as dietary supplements in the united states. ali: dr. peter cohen, associate professor of medicine at harvard medical school, thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. amna: last week el salvador's president bukele was reelected. you landslide win. he first came into power in 2019 and for nearly two years has overseen a vast and brutal crackdown on gangs, transforming the nation from one of the deadliest in the world to one of the safest in latin america, but that peace has come at a cost, thousands of innocent people jailed and, critics say, undermined democracy. i traveled with a producer to two cities north of the capital san salvador to file this report. for two years, patricia has

prayed for her partner's return. victor was one of the more than 75,000 people imprisoned in el salvador's war on gangs. >> [translated] i don't know anything about him, and that hurts the most because we were a very united family. amna: his absence is felt in every room and every meal. in 2020 victor, whose identity we are protecting, and patricia's son roderigo were arrested, without evidence, for alleged gang ties. roderigo was just 16 years old. what happened in prison? >> [translated] they beat me. when i had a stomach ache, a headache, instead of giving me medicine, they would take us all out and beat us. geoff: he said about 70 people shared a single cell, but only about 10 were gang members. >> [translated] they were the ones who controlled the cell. they would ask for medicine and they got it. to those who were not anything, they would treat us badly. those from the neighboring cell would urinate on us and police

wouldn't say anything. amna: his stepfather victor remains in prison. police said he had a criminal record for petty crime decades ago, but patricia denies gang ties. she showed document she has filed for his release dismissed by the court. amna: patricia has been gathering as many character testimonies, letters of recommendation from her church, his employer, where he worked for 22 years. she has been submitting all of this to the courts, but they have made no difference. victor was swept up as part of president bukele's crackdown on gangs that have terrorized el salvador. for more than two decades, warring factions of the ms 13 and 18th street gangs killed and extorted civilians with impunity, turning el salvador to the murder capital of the world. nelson is the digital editor of an acclaimed national investigative newspaper. >> for the people who lived

under gang controlled communities, for the people who used public transportation, for people who maybe were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was unbearable. amna: bukele swept into power in 2019. his first year in office the murder rate dropped in half. but in march of 2022, a gang killing spree. 87 people dead in one weekend. bukele responded with an iron fist. he deployed the military, declared a state of exception limiting some rights, and empowered police to arrest without a warrant. this police officer, whose identity we are protecting, said officers were issued arrest quotas. at one point, five arrests a day. >> [translated] given we had arrest goals, when we no longer found gang members, we began arresting people who had nothing to do with gangs. amna: what happens to those people after you arrest them? >> [translated] they are detained and we charge them with the crime of unlawful association. a lot of innocent people are

still in prison. we have participated in that because we thought they would be released soon and that has not been the case. >> the majority of them, upon being detained, basically disappear into the prison system. family members don't know if they are alive, don't know why they are, are unable to contact them amna: noah is the director of a human rights group based in el salvador. they have documented thousands of arbitrary arrests during that state of exception as well as abuse and death inside prisons. we spoke during his recent visit to washington. for all those people who are detained, what is recourse for their families? what can people do? >> very little. what is lost in terms of rights and freedoms for salvadoreans in the state of exception is the guarantee to have a fair trial, to be able to defend themselves against these types of charges,

and for many families, it becomes a reign of terror. that is what the catholic bishop in el salvador called it. amna: in san martin, an hour outside el salvador, patricia towards us around streets once too dangerous to walk. he is the mayor of a neighboring city. >> [translated] dead people, extortion, territories controlled by the gangs. there was no freedom, even for residents. there was a state within a state. amna: what used to be one of the deadliest areas in the country is now safe enough for children to play. to give you a sense of how dramatically life has changed, people tell us this road used to be essentially a dividing line. that community was controlled by the ms 13 gang, this community controlled by the 18th street gang. and for some, crossing would be a death sentence. villanova, who some gang leaders still want dead, carries a

weapon wherever he goes, but says bukele's policies have been transformative. what about the innocent people who are rounded up and held as part of this state exception that are completely innocent? >> [translated] yes, of those detained here, some people have been released already. i have faith in god that those who do not fear and will be judged will be freed. amna: the government has so far released 7000 people, but thousands of families say their innocent loved ones are still held. maribel last saw her son jorge luis a few blocks away from her vegetable sand outside san salvador. her son had no criminal record. she said he was arrested to fulfill a police quota. >> [translated] another mother who was there and whose son was also arrested that day, before she left the police station , she heard police saying, i need one more. that one more was my son. amna: no visitors are allowed at

the prison where he is held, but once a month maribel makes the trip to drop off food and clothes he will not get inside. each package costs almost $100, about a third of her monthly income. after a friend sent her this photo of a much thinner jorge luis in the hospital being treated for malnutrition, she said she will spare no expense. >> [translated] i can wait, but my son cannot anymore. i don't understand how they can sleep at night with these injustices they are creating. i will never stay silent. why? because i do not want a funeral home to call me one day and tell me my son is in a morgue. amna: of the tens of thousands arrested, the majority have not faced trial. a new law allows for mass trials of up to 900 people at a time. this is the minister of justice and public security. >> [translated] we do guarantee

that all these people will face justice. a judge decision on whether they are guilty or innocent. we are now in the transitional process and will soon begin the accusations. amna: critics say president bukele's grip on power has only tightened. in his first term he removed the attorney general and replaced top judges on the supreme court, who then reinterpreted the constitution, allowing bukele to run for a second consecutive term. the government has also targeted critics including human rights groups and journalists. >> we have gotten death threats. the commission of human rights thinks that our lives and jobs are in danger in el salvador. amna: but el salvadoreans free of gang control support bukele. last week he won reelection with 83% of the vote. >> [translated] we literally

went from being the most dangerous country in the world to being the most secure in all the western hemisphere. >> the security results are felt by everyone. the challenge is helping people who have been subjected to the terror of gangs for decades process what might have been lost in exchange for that security. amna: what does a second term under bukele mean for democracy? >> the end of it. what do you call a system where one person calls all the shots and there is no separation of power? after february 4, you would find it really hard to call it a democracy. amna: today the streets of el salvador are largely quiet and peaceful, but many worry this piece will not prevail for long. ♪ on platforms like tiktok,

instagram and youtube, so called "momfluencers" share parenting tips and candid moments raising their kiddos. it's part of a multibillion-dollar online influencing industry, and, given its focus on kids, raises questions about privacy and consent. stephanie sy reports on a trend among some of these content creators to avoid showing their kids. >> we are getting ready for day one of potty training my two-year-old. she is 25 months -- stephanie: on tiktok, deja smith has built a following by posting about her life as a stay-at-home mother of a toddler. >> i'm also a first time mom and i don't know what the hell i'm doing. i'm just a regular mom, middle-class, you know, just living kind of like a boring life every day. so people love that. stephanie: but one thing you won't see in her videos, at least not anymore, is her daughter's face, a decision she made about a year into being a content creator. >> i was getting a lot of interaction under my videos that were just specifically pertaining to my daughter.

i always wanted to base my content around me. it is centered around me. so when people are starting to center it around my daughter, that's when it got uncomfortable for me. stephanie: smith scrubbed her social media of her daughter's face, even making content about the challenge of keeping a toddler out of her videos. >> back up, back up, back up. stephanie: smith is part of a growing trend among so-called "momfluencers," choosing not to show their kids in their content. >> when i first started doing it, like 12 people were seeing my videos. things change when you gain more traction. stephanie: content creator “menzie” doesn't use her last name publicly, part of a strategy to protect her kid's identity. she has built up a following making tiktoks on the importance of emotional validation, including where she embodies kids' perspectives. [scream] >> knock it off, i can't deal with this today! i can't either, obviously.

it is easier to show kids. it's easy to play on that parasocial relationship. when other people feel bonded to your kid and they feel like they know your kid, they become that much more invested in your life. reporter: menzie says her decision to not show her child is largely because he doesn't have a say. >> it's hard to think about it because we didn't have the internet when we were young, but if all of my childhood pictures and videos were just out for anyone to see, and i didn't realize it for the longest time, and then all of a sudden i did realize it, that would not go over well with me and my parents. i know that's how i would feel. and so i don't feel comfortable doing it to him. >> you can pick out anything you want from the closet. stephanie: brittany balyn has built a large audience on youtube over more than a decade and made content creation her full-time job. >> my channel has evolved with me.

and in the motherhood sphere, it was very much -- there was a lot of great information, but it was showing the highlights and the positive moments. of course, there is that, but i felt like more of just the real and the raw needed to be shared to help these moms not feel alone. stephanie: last august balyn announced to her more than half million subscribers that she would no longer show her three-year-old daughter in her videos. >> i hope you stay with me and a part of my channel, and if you don't, that's ok, because the only opinion that really matters to me is that of my daughter. one thing that really kind of triggered something was meeting another mother at a kids class and her, instead of coming to me first, meeting my daughter, saying her name, knowing things about her. and you know, there was no ill intent from the mother. it just made me realize that in

the wrong hands, this information could be used in a very sinister fashion. stephanie: bayln says that the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and that it has not affected her income. but she's also made the decision to leave her old videos with her kiddo up, for now. >> once something is up, it lives forever. whether you're a content creator or you're just posting to facebook. and maybe i'll change my mind one day. as a mother, as an adult, you are always learning and growing and evolving, but as of right now, the content is still live. stephanie: despite the trend toward removing kids from some “momfluencer” content, many children's lives are on display on the internet, and some states are responding with new laws. last year, illinois passed a first of its kind law requiring parents to set aside a portion of earnings from social media content that features their kids for their kids. this year, at least seven other states have introduced similar legislation. fortesa latifi is a features

reporter for teen vogue who has been covering all this and joins me now. it is good to have you on the newshour. i just read a piece that you wrote titled, "the kids who had their childhoods made into content." it's about the impact that living one's life on social media has had on some kids, now adults. tell me the stories you uncovered. fortesa: it was interesting. i talked to a young woman who has grown up on a youtube channel. she first went viral when she was a toddler and by elementary school, her parents quit their full-time jobs because youtube was the family business. she told me, there is nothing my parents can do now to take away the amount of work i had to put in, and that was so striking to me. stephanie: how pervasive is hearing stories like that? are you getting the sense there is a whole generation of kids who are being exploited online by their parents? fortesa: there is a whole generation of kids that this is affecting, and we are just seeing those kids reach

adulthood now and start to tell their stories. stephanie: we just heard from some momfluencers who decided voluntarily to remove their kids faces from their content. what is driving those moms to make that decision and are they in the minority? fortesa: it is just this cultural conversation around child privacy and what kids consent to and what they cannot consent to online. do we want to be creating these really detailed online footprints for our kids? people are starting to ask that question. it's interesting because i would say that the majority of parent influencers still do show their kids online, but we have had some big creators with millions of followers who made the decision to take their kids off-line. it is interesting because a year or so ago you would not question whether an influencer would show their kid online, but now it is a question. i think even knowing it is not a given shows how much of the culture has changed in the last year. stephanie: do you have any sense of how their followers feel about them taking their kids

faces off-line? you heard one mother say viewers of the content relate to seeing the kid. do those moms suffer monetarily when they make that decision? fortesa: they do because people want to see their kids. they have gotten attached to the kids, are interested in seeing them. and so when they don't show them anymore, their views may go down, they may get less branded content, less sponsored content deals. that is difficult. one thing i have talked to several mom influencers about, who have told me that people's reaction to them taking their kids off-line made them sure they were doing the right thing. people would say, i miss them so much, their tiktok aunts and uncles miss them and we love them, we just want to see them, how could you take them from us? the intensity of that reaction proved to the parents they did the right thing. stephanie: i love that you write in your article that it is maternal instinct that made these momfluencers make that

decision. there was a law passed last year in illinois, the first to require that money made for these videos be set aside for kids featured in them, like in a trust fund. what are the impacts of that law and how much traction are you seeing for legal protections for children of influencers elsewhere? stephanie: it is -- fortesa: it is a big deal because illinois made history with that law, the first in the country to protect monetary gains of child influencers. it is a big deal because often the first one is the most difficult to pass. now we have seen this mirror happening where now there are seven other states that have introduced laws that would either mirror illinois' or take it further and have privacy protections with what is called the right to be forgotten. it is really fascinating because just last year we passed the very first law in the country and there are seven other states working to become the second.

you do see this kind of momentum that came after the illinois law that was not there before. stephanie: do you think the tide is turning toward more protections for kids and teens online? i mean, a lot of child advocates would say a three-year-old cannot consent to being put out publicly on social media, even if it's by their parents. fortesa: i do think the tide is changing. you can see that even in the comments of influencers that still show their kids. half the comments are positive, but half are negative now, which is really a huge change. last year no one was commenting to these influencers that they were exploiting their kids or are you saving money for them? now you see it and half their comments are asking them to address this elephant in the room. so this controversy is really picking up speed. stephanie: fortesa latifi, a features reporter for teen vogue, thank you so much.

fortesa: thank you for having me. ♪ amna: jeffrey wright has had one of the most varied and distinguished acting careers of recent decades. while best known in supporting roles, he's now received his first oscar nomination as the lead in “american fiction,” a film itself nominated for best picture. jeffrey brown spoke to him for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> why are these books here? >> i'm not sure. i would imagine that the offer ellison is black. >> that is me, allison. -- ellison. jeffrey b.: in “american fiction” jeffrey wright plays thelonius ellison, known as "monk," a black writer who finds himself rejected by publishers because his novels aren't “black enough," enough, that is, for a culture demanding just one kind of black story. >> i will put them back after you leave. >> don't you dare. jeffrey w.: it has been in some ways energizing.

jeffrey b.: for the actor, who brought us to his favorite neighborhood café, brooklyn moon, in brooklyn's fort greene section, the film presented a new kind of role, one that often hits close to home. jeffrey w.: i usually have to reshape myself to find a character. i like working that way. i like to create characters, a different man from one film to another. it allows me to be useful across many different genres. jeffrey b.: get outside yourself. jeffrey w.: get outside myself. i like playing with the mask. so, you know, this was a unique one, yeah. >> you look like you could use a scrub. >> i'm clean. jeffrey b.: wright starred in the 1996 film “basquiat,” but he's perhaps made his biggest mark through his brilliant, almost chameleon-like, character roles. >> i live in america, i do not have to love it. jeffrey b.: in dramas such as “angels in america," “boardwalk empire," and

"westworld," big blockbusters including “hunger games," and three “bond” films. and the quirky world of wes anderson, in “asteroid city.” jeffrey w.: i've had people say, i didn't even realize that was you in these two movies i watched last week. i did not recognize you. i like that. jeffrey b.: you do like that. jeffrey w.: yeah. yeah. i like to create, you know, these characters. jeffrey b.: so much goes on in your face. jeffrey w.: i think that the most forceful tool when working on film is the two eyes. you know, the window. so i do try to use those with a certain kind of subtle intensity. jeffrey b.: you are thinking about that, in some sense? jeffrey w.: no, i'm just expressing story through the eyes. >> where you be going in a hurry

like that? >> if you gott to know, i be going to the pharmacy. jeffrey b.: in the eyes of "monk," an upper middle class writer from a family of doctors, bafflement, frustration, grief. >> why am i the last to know? >> because you love them too much. jeffrey b.: “american fiction," directed by first-time director cord jefferson, who adapted it from percival everett's novel, “erasure," is partly a send-up of today's publishing industry industry. facing more rejection, monk writes an over-the-top, street version of black life, using a pseudonym. to his shock, publishers love it. he's finally got a bestseller, except it's not a work he stands by, and it's not, technically, by him. >> we love it. >> what? >> it is very -- >> black? >> yes, that's it. jeffrey b.: this film is certainly, at least partly, looking at the cliches of black life as shown in popular culture. did that resonate with you? jeffrey w.: yeah, certainly. and i don't think it's restricted to the publishing

world or to, you know, the world of film. i think it's across our culture that -- there's preconceptions orisrepresentations of who we are as individuals. i don't think it's necessarily confined to the black experience either, this idea of not being seen. i certainly understand the pressures that the character feels. i don't think that i necessarily share his frustration and rage. i think maybe because of the way i work, i've been able to, you know, work my way around some of those obstacles that have been put in my way. i can't complain about my career. jeffrey b.: that resistance that he is up against, that you are playing -- you know that, but you haven't experienced it quite as much? jeffrey w.: no, i've experienced it. but, i don't know, maybe i've outsmarted it. jeffrey b.: outsmarted it? jeffrey w.: yeah. it's not impossible to do. jeffrey b.: how did you do that?

jeffrey w.: i am just better than that, just by being better than the resistance to who i am as an artist. i've always thought that if i was good at what i did and i worked hard at it, that everything else would flow from that. when i was younger as an actor, i didn't want to make money. jeffrey b.: you didn't want to make money? jeffrey w.: no, it wasn't an interest of mine. i wanted to pay my rent. but it wasn't, you know, i wasn't doing it to pursue a lot of money. i wanted to be good at what i had chosen to do, i wanted to be a good actor. and i figured everything else would take care of itself. jeffrey b.: wright cites the example of other actors who came before him, some still active today, including leslie uggams, who in “american fiction” plays his aging mother with increasing signs of dementia. >> you look fat. >> i know. jeffrey b.: in fact, it's the family relationships in the film that most resonated for wright. >> books change people's lives. jeffrey b.: his own mother, a lawyer who worked for the federal government, had died just a year before filming

began. and a beloved aunt had come to live with him and his family. jeffrey w.: i had kids, trying to make sure she was well, the pandemic rushed in. i was feeling pressure from a lot of sides. as the character in the film realizes that kind of youthful, blissful delusion that as you get older, life will become easier. yeah, i was disabused of. jeffrey b.: not happening. jeffrey w.: no, no. that went away. jeffrey b.: for now at least, there is a different kind of swirl in jeffrey wright's life, as he's feted and honored for his latest role. is this kind of recognition still important to you? jeffrey w.: yeah. i think it is important when your peers and colleagues say, well done. when they show appreciation for

the work and in this case, for the film, in such a generous way, yeah, yeah, that has meaning. the thing that i like, that i've grown to appreciate about working on film is my responsibility when the camera rolls. jeffrey b.: how do you define that responsibility? jeffrey w.: it's to fill up the frame with whatever, whatever aspect of the story i'm responsible for, but that represents everyone's work. it represents the electricians' work, the gaffers, the grips, the people who work in the administrative office. two it's all about what's happening in the frame at any given moment. and when it's my responsibility to be that in that place, i like it, but like that i am part of a larger whole. that is my gig, is to tell the story. jeffrey b.: jeffrey wright, congratulations and thanks again.

jeffrey w.: thank you for having me and thank you for coming to the neighborhood. amna: that is the newshour for tonight. i am amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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