geoff: good evening, i am geoff bennett. amna: on the newshour tonight, michigan state university becomes the site of the latest mass shooting in america after a gunman killed three people and wounds several more. geoff: former south carolina governor nikki haley announces a bid for the white house, challenging former president donald trump. amna: we speak with a teenager whose family is suing social media companies, alleging the quest for more likes contributed to her eating disorder. >> i knew i was hurting myself but i needed that validation so badly that i was willing to do anything to get it.

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more at kf.org. >> 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: good evening and welcome. it's happened again, a burst of gun violence wiping out lives seemingly at random. monday nights attack at michigan state university left three

students dead. geoff: five others were critically wounded before the gunman shot himself. that has left investigators based with finding a motive and a campus community in shock and grief. michigan governor gretchen whitmer, an msu alum herself, mourned the loss of life. >> another place supposed to be about community and togetherness shattered by bullets. geoff: as students coped with the aftermath of the mass shooting, officials released new details on the gunman. police say 43-year-old anthony mccray was found with a note indicating threats to two schools in new jersey where he had ties. those schools were closed today. officis say the shooter, seen on a surveillance recording holding what appeared to be a pistol, had no affiliation with msu. he'd been charged with a weapons

violation in 2019 but did not serve prison time. the gunman's father told the washington post he lied about having a firearm inside their house and firing the gun in his backyard. a neighbor reportedly describing the shooter as a "real hellraiser." the gunman opened fire last night shortly before 8:30 inside an academic building and then, later, at a student union. officers raced in as students poured out, leaving thousands of students in lockdown for hours. >> my legs are still shaking. geoff: dominik molotky says he came dangerously close to the gunman. >> the shooter came into our room and shot three to four times. once he shot those rounds, we waited about 30 seconds to a minute and there was silence. so we started breaking open one of the windows. geoff: officials today released the names of the three victims: junior arielle anderson, an aspiring doctor. alexandria verner, a junior known as a tremendous athlete. and sophomore brian fraser, whose family described as a

light in their lives. and this morning, sparrow hospital's chief medical officer reported five people still in critical condition. >> we had general surgeons, cardio thoracic surgeons, neuro surgeons -- didn't get a lot of sleep last night, sorry. pres. biden: our hearts are with the students and staff at michigan state university. it's happening far too often in this country. far too often. while we gather more information, there's one thing we do know to be true -- we have to do something to stop gun violence from ripping apart our communities. geoff: the attack came on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the shooting at parkland florida's marjory stoneman douglas high school, where a gunman murdered 14 students and three staff members. since then, mass shootings have continued at a vicious frequency.

the gun violence archive reports more than 67 this year across the u.s. that's more than two every day. we are joined now by a student at michigan state university, eleanor hoss, who had to shelter in place for hours when the gunman opened fire on campus. thank you for being with us. you last night were at a rooftop bar, celebrating a friend's birthday, and this bar was across the street from the student union. you witnessed this entire thing. what did you experience? eleanor: i arrived 10 minutes late so i got there around 8:10. i was saying happy birthday to my friend. we were celebrating. almost immediately we saw a cop cars show up so we could see the capital from the rooftop we were at. we saw one cop car show up, then three, and it totaled up to nine. we looked to see where they were

going and they were surrounding the union. we saw cop cars coming the other union from the east side and west side. we saw fire trucks, everyone getting out of the vehicles and running towards the msu union. within a couple minutes, we saw students running out of every exit with hands above their head and students were scrambling to figure out whe to go. it was just crazy. geoff: how long were you in the bar? >> about four hours. the bar was also a hotel and they offered us rooms to stay for the night. they give us a voucher, but that was also around the same place the stay in place order was lifted. we were sitting in the bar for four hours i think. geoff: you were hearing false

reports that there might have been multiple shootings. >> i am in a bunch of group chats because i am an ra and there were reports that shots were fired in every building on campus essentially. east campus, brody campus. people were spreading pictures, false reports on everything, so people thought there were two or the gunman throughout campus. geoff: how are you and your friends holding up? how are you processing all this? eleanor: i was in shock last night. i could not cry. this morning i woke up and cried for 20 minutes. my friends that did stay on campus, we have all been in touch with each other. me and one of my good friends who is an ra, we went on a walk-through campus a little bit ago. we went to the spartan statue and saw all the flowers people had left.

it was nice to get out and walk around. geoff: you mentioned you are a resident assistant to freshman residents. how are they doing? eleanor: most of my residents have left. i have 50 residents and i think 80% to 90% have left campus. my floor is usually loud. i have a bunch of girls that are all friends and it is just dead silent here. geoff: do you feel safe at school? eleanor: i do not. i went home this weekend because i didn't feel safe on campus. there was a lot of other crimes happening near or on campus, so i felt like i needed to leave. geoff: i appreciate your willingness to speak with me. you and everybody at msu are in our thoughts.

amna: now to the ongoing tragedy in syria and turkey, where the earthquake death toll topped 4000 today. it includes some 35,000 in turkey, making it the country's worst disaster in a century. at the same time, a few flickers of life are still being found. rescuers shouted "don't be afraid" as a teenager was pulled to safety after nearly 200 hours buried under concrete, one week after the devastating earthquakes in turkey and syria. but these stories of survival are becoming rarer by the minute. rescuers in antakya, turkey, tired and cold, are sleeping in the rubble. as hope wanes, frustration is mounting. victims blame contractors for skirting building codes, which led to catastrophic consequences.

>> [translated] god does not create people so they can die. it's the contractors who kill people. it's the concrete that kills people. amna: hospitals in turkey are still full, but patients needs are starting to shift. doctors say they're treating infectious diseases, upper respiratory viruses, and mental health. >> now more of the patients are coming with, you know, post-traumatic stress disorder, all the shock that they've gone through during the earthquake. patients are having panic attacks. amna: in this hospital across the border in syria's idlib province, doctors are trying to save everyone they can. in one bed sits a 10-year-old boy in shock, rescued after 50 hours in the rubble. a toy truck keeps him company, as doctors treat him for injuries sustained when his home collapsed, killing his mother and six siblings. other patients in the hospital need ongoing dialysis treatments. but medical supplies are running out. >> [translated] i came here

today for dialysis, but there isn't anything to go with the machine. there are no syringes, no tubes, no medications, no solutions. there is nothing, absolutely nothing. geoff: -- amna: much-needed international aid is barely trickling into syria. today, the first u-n aid convoy crossed into a rebel-held region. but u.n. secretary general antonio guterres says it's not coming fast enough. >> aid must get through from all sides to all sides through all routes without any restrictions. amna: the u.n. estimates that nearly 9 million syrians were affected by the quakes. their lives upended, they're left to hope that aid comes quickly. and, late today, another remarkable rescue. a search team in southern turkey pulled a 77-year-old woman from aollapsed building, after 212 hours of being buried alive. in other headlines, inflation at the consumer level eased again in january, from a year earlier.

the labor department reports consumer prices rose 6.4% from the previous january. that was the slowest pace since year-over-year inflation peaked above 9% last june. but on a month-to-month basis, prices rose half a percent in january, up sharply from the december increase. president biden is naming two new economic policy advisers. today's announcement said federal reserve vice chair lael brainard will become director of the national economic council. the present also named longtime adviser jared bernstein to chair the white house council of economic advisors. u.s. senators got a classified briefing today on the series of unidentified objects being shot down in american airspace. but they emerged with essential questions still unanswered, including where the objects came from and what they were doing. they also voiced mixed feelings on how much the biden administration should tell the public. >> they can say what they know,

what they don't know, and don't reveal sources and methods. that's what the american people want. when you don't provide information and there's a dearth of information, it can lead to wild speculation. it can lead to unfounded fears. sen. schumer: i think the biden administration is being very careful and very thoughtful. a lot of this information people say make it public, but a lot of it is classified or on the edge of classified and it's difficult. amna: also today, general mark milley, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, confirmed that a u.s. fighter jet missed the first time it fired at an object over lake huron on sunday. a second missile hit the target. former vice president mike pence has reportedly decided to fight a special counsel's subpoena in the january 6 investigation. politico, the associated press, and others say mr. pence argues he was serving as president of

the senate on january 6, 2021, to certify the election results. the reports say he will contend that in that role he is shielded from the subpoena. federal authorities in florida say they have arrested four more people in the killing of haitian president jovenal moise in 2021. they include a financier and the owner of a security firm in miami. a total of 11 suspects are now in u.s. custody, with dozens more in haiti. but the haitian probe has all but halted amid widespread chaos there. in new zealand, a national emergency was in effect today for only the third time ever, after a powerful tropical cyclone barreled through. by early wednesday local time, the storm was southeast of auckland, moving roughly parallel to the coast. its passage triggered widespread flooding and landslides in the northern part of the country. some 225,000 people lost electricity. the prime minister said the scale of destruction is immense. >> cyclone gabrielle is the most significant weather event new zealand has seen this century.

the severity and the brett of the damage that we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation. amna: this comes after an earlier storm battered auckland, killing four people. nator diane feinstein announced she will not seek reelection after more than 30 years in office. the california democrat turns 90 in june and is the oldest person in congress. she was the first woman to be mayor of san francisco and first woman elected as a u.s. senator from california. on wall strt, inflation news left investors uncertain. the dow jones average lost 160 points to close at 40,089. the nasdaq rose 60 points. the s&p 500 was virtually unchanged. the white house sent a special valentine to the nation today. three lae parts bearing the

handprints of military children were set up on the north lawn, joined by cutouts of the first families dog commander and cat willow. happy valentine's day to all. still to come, natdefense ministers meet to consider supplying ukraine with aircraft as the war grinds on. republican representative nancy mays discusses the spy balloon situation and the future of the party. social media companies face equal scrutiny over teens' deteriorating mental health, plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and from the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: former ambassador nikki haley announced her candidacy for president today, the first republican to challenge former president donald trump for the

2020 four gop nomination. lisa desjardins explains how she got here. >> it's time for a new generation of leadership. lisa: with a three minute video, former south carolina governor nikki haley launched a long-speculated bid for the white house. the former u.n. ambassador diplomatically but clearly sought contrast with her former boss and now primary opponent, donald tmp. >> republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. that has to change. lisa: the daughter of indian immigrants, haley madhistory in 2010 as the first woman and first person of color elected governor in the palmetto state. she led it following the massacre at the historic african american mother emanuel church in 2015. a white supremacist killed nine black parishioners. >> you are going to see all of us try to lift these nine families up in prayer. lisa: reversing her position,

haley then pushed through the removal of the confederate flag from state capitol grounds. >> the confederate flag is coming off the grounds of the south carolina state house. lisa: now a national name, haley backed a floridian who was not donald trump in 2016. >> our next president will be marco rubio! lisa: this started auanced relationship with trump, whose tone on immigrants she seemed to criticize in her state of the union response that year. >> it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. we must resist that temptation. mr. trump: nikki haley, a very nice woman, she said i'm an angry person, and they said to me, they said you were an angry person. i thought, i said, i am, i am very angry because i hate what's happening to our country. i am angry. lisa: but ultimately haley would support trump and he would hire her as ambassador to the u.n.

and unlike others in his orbit, she left white house on her own terms and in good standing. >> it's been the honor of a lifetime. mr. trump: we will be speaking all the time but we will miss you nevertheless. lisa: in the time since, haley has walked a tightrope of high praise and soft criticism of trump. after the january 6 attack, she said he would be judged harshly for his role. >> the actions the president had since election day were not his finest. lisa: but later that year, she backed him athe leader and the future of the party. >> i would not run if president trump ran. lisa: but he is running and so is she, highlighting her foreign policy record with notable words >> i don't put up with bullies. lisa: and wading into the identity issuethat trump has stressed, raising the new york times' 1619 project on slavery, a flashpoint on the right. >> some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. nothing could be further from the truth. lisa: haley will hold a campaign kickoff event tomorrow in charleston before heading to

iowa and new hampshire. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. geoff: we are going to talk more about what nikki haley brings to the 2024 presidential race. whit ayres is a republican strategist and the president of northstar opinion research. he has consulted for republican candidates including senators marco rubio and lindsey graham and florida governor ron desantis. it's great to have you here. it strikes me that the central idea behd a nikki haley candidacy is she can attract a different kind of republican primary voter, expand the republican base, and carve out a lane for herself. is that realistic? can she do that? >> we are going to find out. she has a lot to sell. she is a popular former governor of one of the earliest gop primary states. she showed leadership chops with the dylann roof massacre and taking down of the confederate flag you showed in the intro. she is one of few people who

went into the trump administration and emerged with an enhanced reputation and in the process got foreign policy experience. demographically she separates herself from most of the potential candidates. she is relatively well known among primary voters, about three quarters have heard of her. it is not mike pence or ron desantis level, but it is more than the others. she can make a pretty good case at age 51 that it's time, as john f. kennedy said, for a new generation of leadership. she has a lot to sell. geoff: she took a jab at donald trump without naming him in her announcement, noting he failed to win the popular vote in either of his campaigns. how does nikki haley confront, navigate, or sidestep the trump factor? >> it is a challenge and will be a challenge for every one of the potential candidates as they go

forward. one thing is clear, you cannot run for a gop nomination in 2024, without running against donald trump. there is a never trump faction but that is only about 10% of the party. there is an always trump faction , a group who will walk through flame for him and follow him anywhere, including an independent candidacy against ron desantis or joe biden. 28% of republicans would vote for him, which would put a democrat in the white house. the largest portion of the party is maybe trump. those are people who voted for him twice, supported him as president, but are interested in an alternative who looks more like a winner and carries less baggage. that's the group she is going for. geoff: you did some polling recently and you found republican voters who don't necessarily dislike donald trump

but think other people dislike donald trump and think he is not electable and that's why they are looking for someone else. >> that's right, they have heard their friends cannot stand donald trump, are never going to vote for him. that's why they think he might not be electable. they are looking for someone who could be in the white house for eight years rather than four, which is what trump would be in for if elected. they are reluctant to admit they don't like trump, but they want somebody who is going to be a different sort of candidate who is less confrontational and has a better chance to win. geoff: can ron desantis on the mantle of trump'-ism who want trump policy? >> we are going to find out. in many ways ron desantis is trump without the crazy. that's what the campaign is going to be about, who can

capture people who liked trump in the past but want a different candidate in the future. geoff: thanks for being here, great to speak with you. amna: leaders from a alition of more than 50 countries that send weapons to ukraine met today in brussels to discuss accelerating their assistance. russian forces have launched fresh offensives in ukraine's east, known as the donbas, and there are concerns about ukraine's ability to withstand russian attacks, and launch its own offensive. secretary of defense lloyd austin spoke after that meeting. >> we are going to continue to work with ukraine to address ukraine's most pressing needs. they are contemplating an offensive in the spring and that is just weeks away, so we have a lot to get done. amna: we turn now to nick

schifrin, who is in the donbas, the main target of russia's push. nick and his team are reporting with the support of the pulitzer center. you heard secretary austen seems to have a lot more urgency in what he is saying. what is driving that right now? nick: it is what you said, the russian offensives that the u.s. believes are underway a few miles east of here. it is the ukrainian need to launch a counteroffensive, just weeks away. a senior u.s. official tells me new intelligence about helicopters and jets on the ukrainian border. it is not like the lights are blinking red, but there are accelerating concerns that already existed about ukraine's air defense. up until now ukraine has relied on a soviet era air defense known as the s 300 and has denied pressure the ability to fly freely over the country. u.s. officials tell me that the parts and munitions will run out

, so at some point they will need to create all western air defense. you have american patriots on the top and systems from germany and france on the bottom. that requires the coalition of countries sending a lot of munitions very quickly. as for what ukraine wants, this is the defense minister showing off a western jet. s. officials say they still do not support the idea of sending teams to ukraine. amna: you are in a city not far from much of the heavy fighting. what does the front line look like right now? nick: the main part of the frontline is just a few miles away. the goal according to u.s. officials is to seize donbass, the province where i am right now, the province russia controlled largely alongside luhansk.

the new attacks are in ree places. theargest attacks are where we have seen ukrainian forces facing off against waggoner forces, russian private military. many of them conscripts who have been fighting for a city that ukraine says represents resistance to russia, but u.s. officials have said they don't believe it is strategically that important. the russians are making progress , but at great cost. look at what happened in the south. those are more than a dozen armored tanks and vehicles blown up inside a minefield. russians are still making some of the same mistakes they have made over the last year. i think the concern among some u.s. officials is the quantity. russia invaded ukraine with more than 150,000 troops.

they now have 300,000 in ukraine or poised to invade, something ukraine has to contend with on a long frontline. amna: what does that mean for the battle beyond the frontline? particularly what secretary austen mentioned, a spring offensive by ukraine? nick: ukraine will have to achieve something it has not yet achieved, breakthrough russian lines that have been dug in for many months, with trenches, with vehicle barriers, with something called drag's teeth like these, which are supposed to stop tanks. republicans criticized the administration for not sending more weapons more quickly. the administration officials i spoke to who believe this strategy is going to work say ukraine does not need to take on russia along this entire frontline, nor does it need to rely on quantity. it is being given more modern

tactics, more modern western vehicles, and it can use those to create a localized advantage and tries to push through one of the russian lines. whether that is true will determine what is truly for both sides going to be a crucial few months. amna: nick schifrin reporting tonight from ukraine, good to see you. for more on what ukraine needs in order to counter russia, we get a rare perspective from an american who has fought in that war. william brangham has that story. william: after doing several tours as an army ranger in iraq and afghanistan, and after -- and then several years in eastern europe as a green beret, my next guest thought his military days were over and decided to go to graduate school. but then russia invaded ukraine, and that all changed. former staff sergeant david bramlette left the u.s. last march, went to ukraine, and voluntarily fought against the russians for 10 months. he led a multi-national team of up to 50 other volunteers and former soldiers.

david bramlette is back, and back getting his master's degree at johns hopkins school of advanced international studies, and he joins us now. david, thank you so much for being here. can you explain a little bit more about the decision you made? you seemingly had put your military life behind you. you were in graduate school. but that all changes. david: sitting in graduate school, talking about ukraine. i thought, i can talk about ukraine or i can go over and do something about it, so i did. it's that simple. william: it was the fact that the russians had illegally invaded another country that stood out to you? david: to me this conflict is black-and-white, and after serving in afghanistan and iraq three times, i felt it was time for me to put my skills to use,

a conflict that was good versus evil. this is as clear-cut as it gets. i think it is the most righteous conflict that i will see in my lifetime. this is democracy in europe we are talking about. william: given you are volunteering your services to the ukrainians, you have a very unique perspective i think a lot of us are curious about. why do you think the russians have seemingly done so poorly and ukinians done so well? david: i will go back to my iraq and afghanistan experience. i saw on the ground what a motivated group of individuals can do to a superpower essentially. if you look at the ukrainian resolve to resist, the willpower to fight, it all comes down to that.

i think a lot of academics, a lot of people in government, place too much emphasis on quantitative analysis. the number of jews, the number of tanks, the number of -- the number of twos, the number of tanks. fundamentally that's why. geoff: -- william: as you know, president zelenskyy was in the eu and u.s. asking for more and better weapons. from your perspective pushing against the russians, what do ukrainians need most? david: i may be contrary in on this. i think instead of focusing on arms maneuvers and big battle tanks, i think we need to focus on weapons systems that are going to have immediate effects on the battlefield. william: high-powered surface to

surface missiles? david: yeah. william: the u.s. says we don't have enough to give right now. david: in my opinion with ukraine i think what happens in ukraine is going to set the precedent for the next decade. we may not have enough for us right now but i think it is worth opening up the stocks of what we have to give it to them. to push the missile attacks back farther, you increase the survivability of these units, these new brigades of conscriptees, ukrainians when they have to go against the offensives and push on the russian lines. william: so you think that is the most critical thing, even though we are hearing signals that russians might be amassing more forces on the border, you think those are the more critical tools. david: those are absolutely

sential because they allow a decentlized form of air defense, so if the russians decide to try to make a play for air superiority, which in my opinion would be the worst case scenario for ukraine. if russia can gain air superiority, it's going to be an entirely different battlefield and the ukrainians will have a very hard time putting up a conventional resistance. william: here in d.c. there is seemingly a split over support for ukraine. the president, his party, and some republicans argue we need to be doing everything we can. some republicans argue we are spending too much money supporting ukraine and our interests lie elsewhere. what do you argue to the people saying enough is enough? david: i would ask them to go to places like kharkiv, donetsk,

see those places firsthand and then tell me the same thing. william: what are they going to see? david: there are whole neighborhoods that have been leveled, razed to the ground, not a single roof insight. this is an epic battle for the heart of democracy and if we don't take care of this battle now, we are going to have tons of problems downstream internatiolly. taiwan, other authoritarian regimes. what does it signal to them if we are not able defend democracy in europe? william: thank you for being here. david: thank you for having me. geoff: now to our special

coverage of teens in crisis. a national survey by the cdc is raising alarm. it shows that nearly 30% of teenage girls said they had considered dying by suicide. and three out of five girls said they felt persistently sad or hopeless. all this comes at a moment when there's growing concern about the impact of social media. during a senate hearing today, lawmakers called out social media companies for not doing enough to protect teens. and school districts and hundreds of families are now pursuing lawsuits against the tech giants, seeking to hold them accountable for rising rates of teenage depression, suicides, cyber bullying, and eating disorders. special correspondent christopher booker reports from new york as part of our ongoing series, "early warnings: america's youth mental health crisis." christopher: for nuala mullen, it started when she was ten years old, posting videos like this one to social media.

two years later, she joined instagram. the next year, tiktok. >> it's just an addiction. once you know what it feels like to get likes and validation, you just crave it all of the time. christopher: and over the next five years, she gained thousands of followers documenting her teenage life. >> like i knew that i was hurting myself and what i was doing wasn't beneficial to me, but i just needed that validation so badly that i was willing to do anything to get it. christopher: mullen, who is now 18, says that became especially true at the start of the pandemic. then a star field hockey player at her high-school in westchester county, new york, mullen says she started doing popular workout challenges on tik-tok and instagram while uck at home. >> i think that's really how i fell down the rabbit hole, because i was noticing after these two weeks, the changes. and i was getting comments on tik tok being like, oh, you look so good, whatever. and i thought to myself, oh, something must be working, you know. christopher: almost immediately,

mullen says her instagram and tik-tok feeds were flooded with body image content, from workout challenges to diet tips to testimonials on how to lose and keep off weight. fore long she had developed a new routine, one that continued even after she went back to school. >> i'd go to field hockey practice, come home. i would run for an hour. i would do weight training, i would do ab routines, i would do hiit workout videos, you know, basically until i was too weak to do anything else. i was training for hours and hours and throughout the day i wasn't eating then. >> i had no idea who she was. it was like another person took over her body. christopher: nuala's mom, elizabeth mullen, says she and her daughter have always been close, but as nuala became obsessed with working out, she struggled to understand what was fueling this new behavior. >> she would talk about a feeling of not being good enough, being lonely at times, not being seen. i was like, what's happening

here? then i started to really take a look into what she was seeing on the phone. christopher: what was it like for you as a parent to first try to understand what was happening and then by extension, try to get control over what was happening? >> at its worst, it's like dropping your boat's anchor in the middle of a hurricane at sea . it is just impossible. i'd be like, well, what's this about? why do you have to photograph yourself like that? so what ended up happening is, you know, she's a smart girl. she would just create different accounts. christopher: by the fall of 2021, nuala's life began to spiral. diagnosed with anorexia, she began having chest pains and was hospitalized after her heart rate became dangerously low. >> for me i couldn't get skinny enough, i couldn't receive enough likes. i was still in that mindset that i needed to be skinny in order for these people online to like . christopher: what about peers and friends? did you have conversations with them later about what had happened?

>> not until after my second hospitalization. i found that even like during the eating disorder, i didn't want to tell anyone, not even in the sense that i was embarrassed, but it was competitive for me. i thought, oh, if i shared that i had anorexia with one of my friends, they might get a tion and they mightecome skinnier an me and they might get more likes, so i wouldn't tell anyone what was going on. christopher: in december, the mullens filed a lawsuit against both tiktok and meta, the parent company that owns instagram and facebook, alleging that the addictive qualities of these platforms are causing and contributing to the burgeoning mental health crisis for teenagers. it's one of hundreds of lawsuits against social media companies that come as the industry faces increasing calls for reform, including from president joe biden earlier this month. pres. biden: we must finally hold social media companies accountable for the periment they are running on our children for profit. christopher: social media companies have long been shielded from lawsuits because of what's known as section 230

of the communications decency act, a 1996 law that protects companies from what urs post on their platforms. but the supreme court will consider challenges to the law later this month. >> right now, platforms have no responsibility for how their businesses cause harm. christopher: imran ahmed is the ceo of the nonprofit center for countering digital hate in their recent report, titled deadly by design, the organization calculated that videos related to eating disorders on tiktok had been viewed more than 13 billion times. the organization also set up eight tik-tok accounts, all posing as 13-year-olds, the minimum age allowed by law to be on social media. after these accounts briefly viewed or liked body image and mental health content, more was quickly fed to them. >> within two and a half minutes of opening an account as a 13 13-year-old girl, it's sending self-harm content. within eight minutes, eating

disorder content. every 39 seconds in the first half hour, they were receiving some sort of harmful content. christopher: both tiktok and meta declined the newshour's request for an interview - but a tik-tok spokesperson told us that last year the company proactively removed more than 80 % of all eating disorder content within 24 hours and more than 70 percent of those videos received no views. while metta told the newshour, "we want teens to be safe online and we don't allow content that promotes suicide, self harm or eating disorders the statement goes on to say, "of the content we remove, we identified 99% of it before it's reported to us." >> everyone is competing for the teenagers. christopher: jonathan haidt is a social psychologist at new york university. he traces what he calls an epidemic of teenage sadness back more than a decade. >> it's anxiety and depression, also self-harm and suicide. all of those things skyrocket after 2012. to clarify, this isn't --

christopher: to clarify, this isn't just social media? there are other factors at play. >> yes, there are always other factors at play. this is a complicated sociological phenomenon. but the instant they go on social media, by instant, i mean, like within a year, the depression lines begin to go up. plus, there is direct correlational evidence that the more you use it, the more depressed you are. it's especially heavy users, more than four hours a day. those girls are three times more likely to be depressed than medium users. christopher: despite these concerns, teens are more likely to view their own time on social media as positive rather than negative, saying it makes them feel more connected with friends and offers them a support network. but more than a third of all teenagers say they're on at least one social media platform almost constantly. >> age 13 is when kids are technically allowed to use social media. christopher: that has led to calls from health experts to increase user age requirements to join social media, including the u.s. surgeon general, dr. vivek murthy.

>> i personally based on the data i've seen, believe that 13 is too ear. christopher: in the fall, instagram rolled out new parental supervision tools, which give parents the ability to monitor how long their children are on the platform, what accounts they follow and who follows them. they also include reminders for teens to take a break. tiktok also highlights that by default, the accounts of users between age 13 to 15 are set to private and they restrict their direct messaging. >> i don't know where that content is going, i don't know who is looking at it. christopher: but elizabeth mullen believes not enough is being done to protect users like r daughter, who remains on both tiktok and instagram, and is still seeing much of the same content as before. >> the app is working against us for sure. the only difference between now and then is if she is confronting it and we do see her sliding, there's more people to jump on when before we didn't know what was happening. christopher: nuala was forced to quit her field hockey team last year because of health concerns

, but today she says she is in a better place. >> on social media, everyone posts the highlights of their life. no one acknowledges what's happening behind the screen.[00:24:25] people probably thought i was the happiest. but it was one of the worst times in my life. christopher: for you as a young person, what would your life be like if you're not on social media? because i think that's one of the questions. just get off. >> i think without social media i would be completely left off. i mean, i could get off the app, sure, but then i wouldn't be able to talk to my friends. i wouldn't be able to make plans, i wouldn't be able to see what people are doing. and in this day and age, it's so hard to stay off of it because everyone's life revolves around it. christopher: neula is now trying to build a new life. she recently accepted an academic scholarship to fairfield university in connecticut, where she will begin in the fall. for the pbs newshour, i'm christopher booker in new york.

amna: house republicans have had a busy start to their majority, from investigations into the biden administration to negotiations around the debt ceiling. they turn their focus to the administration's handling of the spy balloon. here to talk about that is one republican congresswoman not shy about breaking with her party, nancy mace of south carolina. thanks for joining us. let's begin with the news about the fourlying objects the u.s. has been shooting down in recent days, first the site -- the chinese surveillance balloon shot up down off the south carolina coast. senators were briefed today. do you know when you will be getting everything? rep. meeks: we did have a briefing midday this afternoon but it was with open source information.

i look forward to another classified briefing. i had two last week but that was before these three new objects were shot down. i have more questions and answers at this point. amna: once the biggest question you want answered? >> either they have been up there the whole time and we are only now shooting them down, or we were not awarehey were up there. neither scenario in my opinion is a good one. we have radar, satellite, needs to track classified objects. above 18,000 feet you have an faa wetland -- flight plan. my other question is about the origin of the objects. i assume they are surveillance drones likely not from china but from another country. you are likely not going to shoot something down if you don't know what it is. playing cat and mouse with congress is not healthy for

either side of the aisle. if you continue to shoot these things down, i worry there is going to be fear on the ground, which is why i am asking for more transparency. amna: i want to ask about the other big news out of south carolina, former governor nikki haley announcing her presidential run. she is from your district. you have said you would like to see a woman run. will you endorse her? rep. mace: i would love to see a woman on the ticket. i may have two constituents running. it is exciting to see leadership coming out of south carolina. i want to say something about nikki. i wish people could see how hard she works and how much she cares. nikki was one of only a few elected officials who returned my phone call when i was primaried by the president a few years ago. she has been a good friend. i am excited about her jumping

into the race. i have not decided on an endorsement yet but i am excited. i believe republicans need a woman on the ticket and she is more than qualified. amna: she made a case it is time for a new generation of leaders, similar phrasing we hea from sarah huckabee sanders in her response to the president's state of the address. do you agree with that? what would a new generation do that the old one didn't? rep. mace: we need to look forward. many leaders want to look to the past, the 2020 and the last couple of years. i represent a swing district. even though i am in south carolina, my district is very much a swing district. we have a number of people that have left the democrat, left the republican party. they don't feel like they have a home. we need leadership that will embrace independent voices. after roe v. wade, republicans

did not do a very good job of showing compassion towards women. i worked really hard to build trust with women, constituents and voters alike, to find middle ground on that issue because that issue is not going away. i am looking for that kind of leadership out of a nominee. amna: does a new generation mean moving away from donald trump? rep. mace: it certainly means moving forward. i want to see a nice field, a vigorous primary. by the time candidates get to south carolina, i don't want to see more than 10 or 12 in the race. south carolina will play an important role in the democrat and republican primary. typically whoever wins south carolina wins the nomination on the republican side. i expect it be vigorous. i am excited about folks coming to south carolina and i believe as a country, especially

republicans, we have to move forward and embrace more independent voices. amna: as you well know, congress needs to raise the debt ceiling for the u.s. to avoid defaulting on its debt. do you think your party should be holding up the vote to try to get spending cuts, as some ball -- some colleagues have tried to do? rep. mace: we have a real problem with spending in this country. i would like to see budget reform as part of the raising the debt ceiling. the debt ceiling was started after world war ii to help with paying for the war. it is important we understand that has been used over the years by republicans and democrats. $31 trillion in debt, 5 trillion under the current administration , 80 trillion under the previous. we need serious reforms about the budget, now rather than kicking the can down the road.

amna: republicans have voted multiple times to raise the debt ceiling without tying it to spending cuts. do you feel it undermines the argument about spending cuts when that argument only comes up under democratic administrations? rep. mace: you can't call yourself a fiscal conservative if you don't operate that way. we do have that problem in our party. we have added to the debt by trillions of dollars administration after administration. i am a fiscal conservative. i have never voted to raise taxes on my constituents. i think that's a bipartisan issue. nobody wants to see taxes raised in the middle of a potential recession with taxes as high as it is. they want to see the government act responsibly and do what every other household or business has to do, be responsible with the money they have. that's what i am asking for. amna: congresswoman nancy mace

of south carolina, thank you for your time. remember there is a lot more online at pbs.org/newshour, including a story about how st. louis is exploring whether to provide reparations to black residents. geoff: join us tomorrow for more reporting on the ground in ukraine as the war against russia nears the one-year mark. that's the newshour for tonight. i am geoff bennett. amna: on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> architect, beekeeper, mentor.

a raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement , and the advancement of international peace and securi. at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

. hello, everyone welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. a year since russia full scale invasion, 65000 war crimes reported in ukraine. will they ever be prosecuted? i ask america's ambassador at large for global criminal justice. then -- ♪ ♪ china's sup star tells why disney is his latest passion. also ahead. >> veterans aren't inherently vulnerable to radicalization but there is a very concerted effort to target veterans. >> iraq war veteran chris goldsmith tells harrybout

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