and you went more. back and he said happy to clarify came originally did do work for us but we never paid them they were happy to do it for free and i was like there's definitely something interesting here so because this looks like a donation to me and donations need to be declared. trump and for all in front of the gold and lift and he's the person who took that photo and the photo of the more he's in one as well the bad boys of bricks it and bricks it he said was like a petri dish for the charm campaign. you know it was like a test case carls revolution has led to the biggest data protection investigation ever held on both sides of the we started a conversation with mr zucker general that it can start to identify mental vulnerabilities in voters and works to exploit them by targeting information designed to activate some of the worst characteristics in people such as

neuroticism paranoia and racial biases. chris wiley a former director of cambridge analytic turned whistleblower gave evidence to the u.s. senate and a british parliamentary committee that began taking an interest in the brakes at referendum of fake news if clicking on the ad and then performing an actual that's what the definition of a conversion they were going to say that i had to these institutions know sheeted your words and the outcome of the referendum might have been i think it is completely reasonable to say that you could have been different in the referendum. you know had there not being in my view cheating there needs to be a deeper investigation of the of fake accounts and agree a facebook groups being used to propagate information and serve it if m.p. damian collins is the chairman of the british parliamentary committee without evidence from facebook we feel that we should hear from opposite because he buys an

admission he's the person who decides what happens in facebook there are still big concerns are faced with not done enough to investigate the role of fake accounts they've not been transparent on the issue of data breaches in user data and make up in the hands of people who shouldn't have it. fake accounts russian trolls data mining complicated stuff and none of it do much to quell my fears that there was something unpleasant lurking in the bricks if undergrowth but i barely scratched the surface next up was another whistleblower this time someone who'd worked for the official vote believe campaign i was working with of some of the top advisors in the country you know constantly seeing boris johnson michael gove you know some of the most influential politicians in britain. recent graduate sharma's joined folk leave in early twenty sixteen and was asked to engage with ethnic minorities but we've understood that they couldn't just win on white votes they understood that they couldn't win on like people that hate immigrants much and he was tasked

with working with one of the official campaigns reach a group called to believe it was led by a young fashion student i met darren grimes in the first week that i joined was one of the one of the few outreach groups that was very focused on the liberal progressive message but some he says he later realised the official vote leave campaign and another purpose in mind for the young volunteers to circumvent the legally binding electoral commission spending limits votive understood that they had a spending cap so they needed to find a way affectively to breach that spending cap sonnie was told that vocally had found a way of getting the believe outreach group listen with campaign money but there were strings attached effectively vote leave advised us to create ourselves into a separate campaign group so that they could give us almost seven hundred thousand pounds to spend but they gave it on a condition they gave on

a condition saying the only way to dig and give it to us is if we give it to a i q which was a digital company working at. a i q well i got i q as it sometimes known is a canadian based data business it works on us presidential primaries in twenty fifteen with s.c.l. elections cambridge i love it because parent company literally a week before referendum date we were spending hundreds of thousand pounds a day on a q yeah a day the money was sent directly from vote leave to q it never touched be back accounts. because we don't even have a bank ready by then sun is this quiet at these events later turned him into a whistle blower he passed his evidence to the electoral commission and in july twenty eighth they find focally sixty one thousand pounds for among other things

breaching the spending rules the founder of believe down crimes was fined twenty thousand pounds is now appealing that decision. but there's other stories involving strange sums of campaign fund in haven't yet been as adequately explained. belfast northern ireland one of the poorest parts of the u.k. which has benefited the most from e.u. investment for many here there's long been concern that breaks its effects on cross border relations with the irish republic could mean a return to the dark days of the troubles so when a small local political party received four hundred thirty five thousand pound nation for the brics it campaign the largest in the party's history eyebrows were raised why he was a northern irish political party being so involved you know in the referendum in great britain in england and scotland. back in twenty sixteen investigative

journalist peter keegan was shocked when he saw a proto leave adversus meant in a local english newspaper the ad was sponsored by ulster's democratic unionist party do you pete. for them is a huge sum of money and they're spending it on a on a piece of material that's not going to circulate norton in ordinary let on at all the single and ferguson cost the day you paid two hundred eighty two thousand pounds almost five times as much as they had spent on their participation in the u.k.'s general election the previous year but no one knew from where the money had come to pay for it norton aren't these unusual laws there are secrecy of political donations when ordinarily and you didn't reveal the names of political donors and the reason for this was kind of a hangover from the troubles the violence in ordinarily. the loophole was used by the piece shadowy benefactor to hide their identity finally after intense media

pressure that the u.p.a. revealed the money had come from a body called the constitutional research council for c r c but exactly who or what lies behind the c.r.c. remains to be seen do you know where the constitutional search came to get its money from you'd have to ask the constitutionally so you're saying you don't know where the other i believe that they have raised their money legitimately and we were delighted to receive the donation from that you say you believe that it really meant you have to know that legally and we did you know very intense and certain so you didn't tell us what useful research council want to publish where they do their fundraising not as a matter for them not the. constitutional research council is jargony term it's called non-corporate association it means they don't have to follow company accounts they don't have time to address that because of the donor secrecy laws in order and we don't they don't have to tell us who they are they don't have to tell us where they got the money from but the democratic unionist party is supposed to

be completely sure that has checked where this money came from of the money is the justice we also asked the day you paid what do diligence it had on the true source of the money the spokes person told us the electoral commission has raised no issues in relation. to d. you be campaign including did our nation which came from a permissible donor who in turn are themselves regulated by the electoral commission interesting lay the do you piece spent another slice of the mysterious donation on the services of i.q. same data company to which boat leave sent money when illegally circumventing the u.k.'s strict referendum spend in laws. the d.p. did not declare that they were working with anybody to say that they were working poorly on their own yet they spent money with the exact same companies of for at least money which despite these curious circumstances the u.k.'s electoral commission said that it does not have sufficient grounds to open an investigation

the d p had broken the law to commit a criminal offense the. mole is a director of the good law project a body now challenging the commission's decision not to investigate the law is very very clear to protect out a mock received from foreign interference those who accept donations have a clear positive obligation to look at and to understand who is giving them money so it's the faintly story of liver again. since the breaks that referendum questions about the mysterious donors and the so-called dark money have continued to surface. journalist peter jukes focused his attention on the biggest political donor in you case history insurance mogul banks. allegedly he transferred more than eight million pounds in loans and donations to leave you and other great sick campaigns the been face questions about how you can afford this

because there's no visible means of support he's not a wealthy man has a big house but has a five hundred thousand pound mortgage on a summer to dated nine million pounds at least two. leaving the e.u. whenever questioned banks has been evasive about the true source of his wealth his reticence troubles m.p. damian collins chairman of the british parliamentary select committee investigating disinform ation fake news briefing these questions around our backs in money persisted we keep being told different stories be keeping told well he sold this business and the money came from that sale but it turns out there was no real profit made on that sale or it came from these mines or it came from somewhere else and it never makes sense but what really concerns investigators are the multiple meetings mr banks is known to have held with russian officials in london in the months running up to the referendum and why would he be meeting in the monitor

breaks at so many meetings and it turned out if you're talking about levy u.s. officials and russian you know embassy staff eleven or twelve meet. and i'm up to press one earth why are the russians dangling lucrative offers to british businessman bankrolling bracks and do you have to ask the question did for money make it into the rights campaign in june twenty eighth he who believes our own bangs and his business partner will appear before a parliamentary committee but he left before the m.p.'s were able to fully question him he's misled parliament and the public not only a bad his own financial activities but also the frequency of his contacts with the russian embassy here in london in november twenty eighth the electoral commission referred our own banks to the national crime agency on suspicion that there is criminal offenses may have been committed banks declined to answer questions but he

has consistently denied receiving money from russia and dismisses other claims as ludicrous the case is on go in the form of government minister ben bradshaw believes a full inquiry into the referendum is long overdue he wants an investigation similar to the miller probe into alleged collusion between russia and the trump presidential campaign. it's very embarrassing for our government for on television services to look flat footed like this and to leave it to an american political and congressional process to reveal the truth about what happened in britain over in brussels they fact capital of the union reps it is want to leave many think the truth is already out there i went to meet sajid kerim a leading u.k. conservative member of the european parliament he lays responsibility for the brics it most squarely at the feet of russian president vladimir putin

a weakening of the european union is in his interests it is his aim it is his goal and i'm afraid we are on the verge of. delivering that for him today i don't think brits and certainly many of the europeans have actually in the stirred to what extent their lives are about to change. unless our governments including my government in the united kingdom take the step of investigating and protecting our democracy today. it wasn't the only warning about russian meddling i heard in brussels. russia is responsible for eighty percent on the information given it is illegal eighty percent after european commission conference electoral interference former nato secretary general anders rasmussen is giving

a stark warning of europe facing over the past two years already interference has been detected in at least ten divisions and referendums on both sides of the atlantic and find rest most and says was surely one of russia's targets but i have no doubt and i think we have evidence that they interfere so i think the lesson. is that we should focus on preventing this from happening in diffusion. back in britain the endless political rally over brics it was rolling on but always about half implemented rather than the legitimacy of the referendum going on stage things were supposed to come to this month the final parliamentary vote on the terms of the u.k.'s exodus. to stay the uncertainty and instability continued. i began this film with questions about the brics

a referendum that urgently needed answers what i've heard has only increased those concerns. as britain's departure from the e.u. draws ever closer i'm left with one chilling thought were we here in britain jute into making one of the worst political decisions in our history if you win our campaign or a referendum or an election by. on breaking the law then it isn't democratic it's a lock it's a scam to cheat. adored by millions the stones most famous cricket him arrived as prime minister on a blaze of national celebration. now one hundred days into his leadership he asks whether delivering on promises would be as easy in practice as it was in theory right now the nation is not feeling confident right all people are disappointed with the bombing in minus one hundred days on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera where ever you. think stories generate foundations of headlines to. separate the spin from the facts as facts. we've been listening post on al-jazeera. this is al jazeera i'm thirty now with a check on your world headlines. police have arrested more than one hundred people at yellow vests protests around the french capital paris an estimated three thousand people turned out in the city center for the fifth weekend of

demonstrations far fewer than previous weeks burnet smith has this update. what we've had in the last few hours is this sort of cats and mouse operation between some groups of yellow vest protesters and the french security force between the bus a lot of. the loo to my left hand and we've basically had groups of protesters trying to move around they keep walking around different areas gathering into an area and the police keep closing them off the most significant difference i've noticed this week compared to other weeks though is that you have not had these sort of violent groups within some the protesters attacking and smashing up shops and cars and vehicles that sort of thing that hasn't been any of that i haven't heard any of that this time around what you've had is peaceful demonstrators moving around paris the numbers are down but of course they are their presence is still disruptive because we've had shops closed you've got roads closed off the metro

system many metro stop stops are closed as well and people are put off from coming into central paris affecting businesses so there are protesters the numbers are down it's peaceful but disruptive and the yellow vest protest is still managing to make that point. palestinian president mahmoud abbas has ordered the reconstruction of an activist home which was demolished by the israeli military in the last few hours israel says the homeowners son killed a soldier earlier this year palestinians have been protesting against the demolition saw about a cart's is the chief palestinian negotiator he says this demolition could lead to more violence in gaza and the occupied west bank. because the war crimes committed by the government to the firing got thirty you know responsible and he's four years sponsoring his government with the war crimes being committed against the palestinian people there is there and painful. war crime

yeah mass execution a diminishing of. confiscation of land he announced the building of two thousand settlement housing units and this call comes on the day encourage him and resign from well the demolition of home has the occupied west bank on edge at a time when tensions are already high funeral services are under way for a palestinian teenager who was shot dead by israeli forces on friday eighteen year old had taken part in anti occupation protests throwing stones at israeli soldiers who then responded with gunfire there's been fighting on the outskirts of holiday the less than a day after yemen's warring parties agreed to a ceasefire in the port city video aired on a t.v. network appears to show airstrikes by the saudi emirates a coalition which is fighting against her with the rebels that is run said the three women the airstrike targeted the resistance right here look at the blood look at the shop know if this is the cease fire they are trying to promote mercy. the

lorries out to the front lines not to and civilians areas sri lanka's disputed prime minister mahinda rajapaksa has quit he signed his resignation letter in the past few hours rajapaksa was appointed seven weeks ago setting off a political crisis that's left sir lanka without a functioning government. and questions are being raised about u.s. border services treatment of detained migrants as details emerge about the death of a seven year old guatemalan girl in custody earlier this month jacqueline or rosemary come a kid was picked up with her father in a remote area along mexico's border with the u.s. she later died of dehydration her father says she didn't get any medical treatment for ninety minutes despite being very ill a federal court in the u.s. state of texas has ruled that the affordable care act also known as obamacare is unconstitutional the decision cost uncertainty over the insurance coverage of

millions of americans those are the headlines on al-jazeera the news continues after a special hour long edition of inside story from the forum but i for now. and welcome to a special inside story today coming to you from the forum here in canada in the next hour we'll be discussing two key issues one fake news and two continuing attacks literally and metaphorically against journalists around the world if you've got fake news combined with a world that lacks functioning journalism how can you have functioning democracy how can you trust your journalists and your politicians setting up our discussion today has said to carry it. the faces of those who have died in search of the truth

some of the fifty two journalists killed this year alone. journalists are increasingly in danger for just doing their job. and they say they need protecting now more than ever. americans were reminded of that need when a gunman killed four reporters at a local newspaper in maryland in june i think you should let me run the country you run c.n.n. and then there's the influence of donald trump and his claims of fake news. but there are other risks from asking the questions that people in power don't want to answer the murder of saudi journalists shocked the world highlighting how journalists are vulnerable to killing kidnap attacks and imprisonment even if under the supposed protection of their own diplomats. in myanmar the silencing of two reuters reports is continues twelve months into a seven year prison sentences while alone and child so. they were convicted of

obtaining secret state documents while investigating reports of the massacre of the hinge of villages. the reuters journalist the maryland newspaper stuff and philippines war reporter maria ressa have all been awarded person of the year by time magazine it says it's honoring what it called guardians of the truth deprived of freedom or at least thirty two journalists in egypt including mahmoud has seen the al-jazeera reporter jailed without charge for almost two years al-jazeera denies government accusations of broadcasting false news and demands his immediate release. it's not a high it's inside story. ok

there we are here we go let's bring in our guests today here on inside story coming to you from the forum they are maria ressa just in the process week or so named one of the time persons of the year david sless and he is from the committee to protect journalists and sean spicer formerly the white house press secretary maria can i come to you first forty is fake news. you know we we felt this this downturn in the philippines in july of two thousand and sixteen. right now well let's talk about a first in terms of the global landscape right for it is whatever power doesn't like. that's when president trump called c.n.n. and the new york times fake news a week later president detect in the philippines called rappler fake news from my experience fake nooses something that has been embedded on social media when social media was weaponized and it happened not during the campaign of president detected

but after he took office it was in july of two thousand and sixteen the same month that the drug war began that social media was weaponized and exponential lies what the old definition of what fake news would be lies were embedded repeated exponentially when you repeat a lie a million times it's the truth. sean spicer so what's your definition of fake news i mean i think that there's sort of a continuum in our spectrum there is stuff that we have seen sort of what we in america called tabloid. journalism stuff that you find in the checkout counter that talks about aliens coming down that i think is demonstrably things that everybody agrees on didn't happen or faults are just outlandish i think what we've seen now is that continual move into a lot of stories where there might be a piece which there is an element that is wrong or off so that let's if you if you assume that a story has to be one hundred percent right you'll find two or three or five things

in a story and say well then therefore it's faults it's fake and then that suggests stands all the way to what i think maria was alluding to a little bit which is now it is somewhat gone even further which is that people who disagree with the story the narrative of it say well that's fake and so it sort of encompasses now a lot more than where it did maybe say five or ten years ago that's two different things surely just pushing there for a second using fake news as an accusation or using it as a discrete right where you're caught you asos whatever different thing yet you asked a question of what it was and i'm trying to explain how there's been an evolution and what it what it's come to mean where it was say five years ago understood david why does fake news translate into attacks on journalists and reporters being a journalist it's always been a dangerous profession of journalism always been killed in pursuit of the truth journalists run towards danger instead of a way to weaken we may not like that we can accept that what is particularly worrying now is that journalists are being targeted for their stories as

a way of silencing them so when people first say this is fake news then they say these reporters do not have a right to live or to be free right now there are two hundred fifty one journalists in prison around the world for their reporting fifty two journalists were killed last year over those fifty to thirty. three were murdered i mean this year two hundred eighteen already into the year thirty three murdered for their journalism that is the most horrific kind of censorship imaginable and i think it comes it all starts when you no longer have acceptance of the fact that there are facts in this world and that journalists actually are providing a service for society in searching out those facts and revealing them to the world cannot you i think i think one of the things that's interesting is i don't disagree with a lot of what david said i think there's a couple issues number one the lack of human dignity of any individual regardless

of the prepping in this case obviously journalism under a journalist being under attack is an issue concern all of us especially those of us in a democracy where people aren't admitting it so i don't think that that's that's an issue what i think is problematic from where i sit is that the society of professional journalism is code of ethics actually says that journalists should should welcome criticism of their stories and what i have found at least from where i said is that any questioning of any story is then sort of an attack on a journalist and i think that that's part of the problem as well is that when you see stories for example the other day i landed in hong kong the front page of the usa today said in the lead article former white house chief of staff john kelly that is demonstrably false he is still the white house chief of staff and so there is a lack of accountability that i think has again exists existing within journal.