you know, you can watch out to see were english streaming light on like youtube channels, plus thousands of all programs. award winning documentaries and news reports. subscribe to you choose dot com forward slash al jazeera english. ah . the pope expressed as a deep sorrow after an inquiry finds the 330000 children the sexually abused within the french catholic church. ah, hello there, i'm miss darcy. hey, this is al jazeera live from dar ha. also coming up a facebook whistlebury prepares to testify before congress. she is accused the

platform of prioritizing profits over public good a chance for cooperation. the u. s. secretary of state is in france to men tires with america's oldest ally crumbling on itself. the fury of it upon this volcano sees more molten lava spew from its crater. ah, now the pope has expressed a deep sorrow after the release of a devastating report into sexual abuse within the catholic church and france and found there were nearly $330000.00 victims over a 70 year period. and a detailed what it calls a deep and cruel indifference on the part of the charge. ne parker reports. many children abused by members of the catholic church were not believed or listened to for years. somewhat, even accused of contributing to what had happened to them. among those victims

olivia 7 jak abused by a priest when he was 13. oscar we sit unseasonal. we sit and watch. yes, the report is an earthquake. yes, it's a hurricane. yes, it's a c. normally what? and it has to be a c nami because to day when we see the numbers in it so damning that no one can be in denial both within the catholic church and the whole of society. don't you? the roman catholic church betrayed the trust of the young and vulnerable on a devastating scale. the conclusion of a 2 and a half year investigation into clerical child abuse carried out by $3000.00 suspected peter files in the french church on appropriate as shown from says in the french population. now aged 18 and over 216000 plus or minus $50000.00 was sexually assaulted by clerics priests or nuns known as minor since bushel. christie and when lay members of the church such as teaches a catholic schools are included. the number of child victims,

climes to 330000 of the 7 decade periodontal and poor measure. keyed full, a major point, the must been the mind is until the early 2000 school there was a deep total and even coolant difference. for years. recent scandals have decimated the church, has credibility at a time of dwindling attendances last year defraud french catholic priest, bernard craner, was sentenced to 5 years in jail for abusing scouts in his care. several decades ago. the case also led to the resignation of his superior, the archbishop of leon philly. barbara accused of covering up the abuse the scandal in frances, the latest to hit. the catholic church rocked by abuse scandals around the world. in june. pope france is said the church abuse crisis was a world wide catastrophe. this year he issued an extensive revision of church law, insisting bishops take robust action against clerical abuse. the french church said in march,

it would propose some form of financial aid to the victims. but campaigners have been left asking how it's possible to put a price on suffering. ne falcon al jazeera. now you are a secretary of state antony blinkin is in france to patch up, ties off to weeks of strain relations over a cancelled submarine deal. he's meant friends, president manuel mac run on the foreign ministers on eve la drown. both sides have agreed. there is an opportunity to deepen cooperation. france, you recall, was angered last month when the u. s. announced a 3 way partnership with the u. k. and australia. our white house correspondent kennedy health has moved from washington dc. this meeting is very important for repairing the diplomatic raft when to say that france was unhappy with the deal that was struck between the united states, the u. k. and australia over the selling of technology of nuclear powered submarines to australia would be an understatement. given the fact that not only was the french president maxwell,

i rate about being kept in the dark that these negotiations for a group security group known as august happened without any consultation. but this is costing france millions upon millions of dollars. so there is a real economic impact when french president macro has to face his own constituents . and so as a result, he was furious that the baton administration went ahead to help orchestrate this deal. and as a result, pulled his ambassadors, not only from the united states, but also from australia, calling them back to paris. now those ambassadors have since been restored, but the damage was done. and already, joe biden, to you as president, has had a call with french president macro. now what we're seeing with this meeting of the secretary of state in france is a further ring of trying to repair that diplomatic ref. something that we knew was going to happen, and this meeting is also something else. it's a prelude mr. to what we expect will be in him person meeting between the u. s.

president and the french president. later this month. we assume this could happen sometime around the october 30, 31 dates with respect to that when the g 20 will take place in italy. house on the facebook employee attend. whistleblower is assessed, as you can see, to testify before the u. s. congress often criticizing the company for putting profit before safety. frances, how good he can see that on your screen hasn't used facebook and amplifying division of dismissing the hom that it's platforms can cause to teenagers. and testimony comes at just a day off to facebook. apologize for the technical problems that crash, not any at science, but also those of instagram and whatsapp globally for alice. this is a hearing that's taking place on capitol hill. she's just being one. and now let's listen that you have provided the congress is powerful for facebook, new it's products were harming teenagers. facebook exported teens using

powerful out algorithms that amplified their insecurities and abuses through what it found was an addict narrative. there is a question which i hope you will discuss as to whether there is such a thing as a safe algorithm. facebook saw teens creating secret accounts that are often hidden from their parents as unique value proposition, in their words, a unique value proposition. way to drive up numbers for advertisers and shareholders at the expense of safety. and it doubled down on targeting children pushing products on pre change teams. but preteen that it knows are harmful to our kids, mental health and well be. instead of telling parents facebook and sealed the facts,

it sought the stone wall and block this information from becoming public, including to this committee, when senator blackburn, i specifically asked the company and it still even now, as of just last thursday, when a facebook witness came for me, it has refused disclosure even to tell us when it might decide whether to disclose additional documents and they continued their tactics, even after they knew the destruction. it isn't just that they made money from these practices, but they continued to profit from them. their profit was more important than the pain that they cost. last thursday, the message from ms. antigone davis, facebook global head of safety, was simple quote. this research is not

a bomb shell and quote, and she repeated the line. not a bombshell. well, this research is the very definition of a landfill. a spoken big tech are facing a big tobacco. only a moment of reckoning, parallel astride him. i see big tobacco as connecticut's attorney general. i helped to lead the states in that legal action. and i remember very, very well the moment in the course of our litigation, when we learned of those files that showed only that big tobacco knew that its product caused cancer. but that they had done the research, they can see all the files. and now we knew and the world no, and big tech now faces that big tobacco jaw dropping moment of truth,

it is documented, prove it. facebook knows its products, can be addictive and toxic to children. and it's not just that they made money again. it's that they value their profit more than the pain that they cause, the children and their families. the damage to self interest and self worth of inflicted by facebook today will haunt a generation feelings of inadequacy and insecurity with jackson and self hatred will impact this generation for years to come. our children are the ones who are victims in today looking at themselves in the mirror. feel gout and insecurity.

mark zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror to day. and yet rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, mr. supper is going sailing. is new modus operandi. no apology, no admission, no action, nothing to say here. are to that to work. you need to come before this committee. you need to explain to answer how then to life to the world and to the parents of america. what you were doing and why you did instagram's business model is pretty straightforward. more eyeballs, more dollars, everything facebook does is to add more users and keep them on their apps. the longer, in order to hook us in spam uses our private information to precisely target

us with content and recommendations affecting bed. what will provoke, a reaction will keep us scrolling. far too often, these recommendations encourage our most destructive and dangerous behaviors. as we showed on thursday, we created a fake of town my office and i did as a teen. interested in extreme dieting and eating disorders. instagram latched on to that teenagers initial insecurities. it then cost more content and recommendations glorifying eating disorders. that's how instagram's algorithms and pushed teens into darker and darker places. facebook's own researchers called it instagram's, whole perfect storm exacerbating downward spirals.

facebook, as you put it, was, have been so powerfully maximizes profit and ignores pain. facebook failure to acknowledge and to act makes it morally bankrupt again and again, facebook rejected reforms recommended by its own research. last week, miss davis said, quote, we're looking at and quote, no specific plans, no amendments. only a platitude. these documents that you have revealed, provided this company with a blueprint for provided specific recommendation. they could have made facebook and instagram safer. the company repeatedly ignored those recommendations from its own researchers that would have made facebook and instagram safer. a facebook researchers have suggested changing their recommendations

to stop promoting accounts known to encourage dangerous body comparison. instead of making meaningful changes, facebook simply pays lip service. and if they won't ad and a big tech well now, congress half say intervene. privacy protection is long overdue center. marquee and i have introduced the kids act, which would ban addictive tactics that facebook uses to exploit children. parents deserve better tools to protect their children. i'm also a firm supporter of reforming section $230.00. we should consider narrowing this sweeping immunity when platforms algorithms amplified illegal conduct. you've comment on this in your testimony and grab your stand on it. we have also heard

compelling recommendation about requiring disclosures of research and independent reviews of these platforms, algorithm and i plan to pursue these ideas, the securities and exchange message further investigate your intentions and claims miss haben, and so should the federal trade commission. facebook appears to have misled the public and investors, and if that's correct, it ought to face will penalties as a result of that misleading and deceptive misrepresentation. i wanna thank all my colleagues who were here today because what we have is a bipartisan congressional roadmap for a form that will safeguard and protect children from big jeff. that will be a focus of our subcommittee moving forward, and it will continue,

continue to re bipartisan. and finally, i'll just end on a snow. in the past weeks and days, parents have contacted me with their stories. heartbreaking and spine showing stories about children pushed into eating disorders. boeing online, self injury are the most disturbing kind and sometimes even taking their lives because of social media. parents are holding facebook accountable because of your brain is out there. and we need to hold accountable facebook and all big tag as well. again, my thanks to you. i am going to enter into the record that letter from 52 state attorneys general and from to members of the youth advisory board of sandy look thomas. as long as there is no objection,

and i will now turn to the ranking members and replying thank you mister chairman, and thank you for entering that letter and the record that we have from our state attorneys general. good morning to every one. it is nice to see people in this hearing room and i to be here for the hearing to james hogan. we thank you for your appearance before us today and for giving the opportunity not only for congress, but for, for the american people to hear from you in this setting. and we appreciate that mr . chairman. i think also thanks to you and your staff that have worked with our team to make certain that we had this hearing and this opportunity i to day so that we can get more insight into what facebook is actually doing as they invades of privacy. not only of adults,

but i've children and look at the ways that they are in violation of the children's online privacy protection act, which is federal law. and looking at how they are evading that law and working around it. and as the chairman said, i privacy and online privacy passing of federal privacy standard has been long in the works. i found my 1st privacy bill when i was in the house and back in 2012. and i think that it will be this congress. and this subcommittee that is going to lead the way to online privacy data security section $230.00 reforms. and of course sen club, which are always wanted to talk about antitrust. and i have to give an odd sen marcie is down there. when we were in the house, we were probably 2 of the only ones who were talking about the need to have

a federal privacy standard. now is that sherman mentioned last week. we heard from miss davis, who heads global safety for facebook. and it was surprising to us that what she tried to do was to minimize the information that was in these documents to minimize the research and to minimize the knowledge that facebook had. at one point i even reminded her, the research was not 3rd party research. the research was their facebook's internal research, so they knew what they were doing. they knew where the violations were, and they know they are guilty. they know that their

research tells them this, o, y asked week in advance of our hearing. facebook released to studies and said that the wall street journal was all wrong if they had just gotten it wrong, as if the wall street journal did not know how to read these documents. and how to work through this research. having seen the data that you've presented to and the other studies that facebook did not publicly share, i feel pretty confident that it's facebook who has done the misrepresenting to this committee. here are some of the numbers that facebook chose not to share. and mr. chairman, i think it's important that we look at these as we talk about the setting for this hearing, what we learned last week, what you and i've been learning over the past 3 years about big tech and facebook.

and here you go. 66 percent of teen girls on instagram and 40 percent of teen boys experience negative social comparisons. this is facebook's research. 52 percent of teen girls who experienced negative social comparison on instagram said it was caused by images related to beauty. social comparison is worse on instagram because it is perceived as real life. but based on celebrity standards, social comparison mimics the grief cycle and includes a downward emotional spiral, encompassing a range of emotions from jealousy to self proclaimed body dis morphia, facebook, a dixon, which facebook calls conveniently problematic use is most the

beer in teams. he king, at age 14, here is what else we know facebook is not interested in making significant changes to improve kids safety on their platforms. at least not when that would result in losing eye balls on post or decreasing their ad revenues. in fact, facebook is running scared, as they know that in their own words, young adults are less active and less engaged on facebook. and this, they are running out of teams to add to instagram. so teams are looking at other platforms like tick tock and facebook is only making those changes that add to which users numbers, and ultimately it's profits follow the money. so what are these changes? allowing users to create multiple accounts at facebook does not delete an

encouraging change to create 2nd accounts. they can hide from their parents. they are also studying younger and younger children as young as 8. so this i can market to them. and while missy davis says that kids below 13 are not allowed on facebook or instagram. we know that they are because she told us that they recently had deleted 600000. i counts from children under age 13. so how do you get that many under age accounts, if you aren't turning a blind eye to them in the 1st place, and then in order to try to clean it up, you go to delete it and then you say, oh, by the way we just and the last month deleted 600000 under age. i can't anne speaking of turning a blind eye, facebook turns

a blind eye to usual privacy news break yesterday. that the private data of over 1500000000. that's right. 1.5000000000 facebook users is being sold on a hacking or on that sits biggest data breach to day. examples like this underscore my strong concerns about facebook. collecting the data of kids in teens and what that you're doing with it. facebook also turned a blind eye toward lighten human exploitation. taking place on its platform, trafficking force, labor cartels, the worst possible things. one can imagine. big tech companies have gotten away with abusing consumers for too long. it is clear that facebook prioritize his profit over the well being of children and all users. so as a mother and a grand mother,

this is an issue that is of particular concern to me. so we thank you for being here today, miss how going and we look forward to getting to the truth about what facebook is doing with users the data and how they are abusing their privacy and how they show a lack of respect for the individuals that are on their network, we look forward to the testimony. thank you mister chairman. thanks, senator blank. thank you sen blackman. i don't know where the ranking member would like to make this. you don't mind a thank you. i german blumenthal and i will just take a moment or 2 and i do appreciate being able to speak as ranking member of the full committee this this miss howard, this is about this a subcommittee hearing. you see some vacant seats at this pretty good attendance for our subcommittee. there are also

a lot of things going on. so people becoming get going. but i'm, i'm willing to predict that this will have almost 100 percent attendance by members of the subcommittee because of the importance of the subject matter. so thanks for coming forward to share the concerns about facebook's business practices, particularly with respect to children and teens. and of course that is the the main topic of our title of our hearing today. protecting kids own land. the recent relish of revelations about facebook's mental health effects on children and its plan to target younger audiences are indeed disturbing. and i think you're going to see a lot of bipartisan concern about this to day and, and in future hearings, they just, they show how urgent it is for congress to act against powerful tech

companies on behalf of children and the broader public. and i say powerful tech companies, they are, possess she possessive of immense, immense power. their product is addictive, and people on both sides of this dyess are concerned about this. i talked to an opinion maker just down the hall a few moments before this hearing this person said the tech gods have been d mystified now. and i think this hearing today, mr. chair, is a part of the process of demystify big tech. i'm the children of america are hooked on their product. it is often destructive and harmful in there is a cynical knowledge on behalf of the leadership of these big tech companies that

that is true. miss hogan, i hope you will have a chance to talk about your work experience of facebook and perhaps compare it to other social media companies also look forward to hearing your thoughts on how this committee and how this congress can ensure greater accountability and transparency, especially with regard to children. so thank you mister chairman. and thank you miss hogan for being here. thanks. under wicker, our witness this morning is francis alvin. she was the lead product manager on facebook civic misinformation to hold a degree in electrical and computer engineering from old college. and m b a from harvard, she made the courageous decision as all of us here and many others around the world . now to leave facebook and reveal the terrible truths about the company. she

learn during her tenure there. and i think we are all in agreement here in expressing our gratitude and our admiration for your bravery in coming forward. thank you. miss falcon, please proceed. good afternoon, karen blumenthal, ranking member, blackburn, and members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you . my name is francis houghton. i used to work at facebook. i joined facebook because i think facebook has the potential to bring out the best enough. but i'm here today because i believe facebook's products harm children, stoke to vision and weaken our democracy. the companies leadership knows how to make facebook and instagram saver, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical prophets for people. congressional action is needed. they won't solve this crisis

without your help. yesterday we saw facebook get taken off the internet. i don't know why i went down. i know that for more than 5 hours, facebook wasn't needed to deepen, divides to stabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies. it also means the millions of small businesses weren't able to reach potential customers. and countless photos of new baby's weren't joyously celebrated . i, family and friends around the world. i believe in the potential of facebook. we can have social media. we enjoy. that connects us without tearing our democracy, a partners democracy, putting our children in danger and selling ethnic violence around the world. we can do better. i have worked as a product manager, a large tech company since 2006, including google interest, yelp and facebook. my job is largely focused on algorithmic products like google

plus search and recommendation systems like the one that powers the facebook news feed.