amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the "newshour" tonight, the senate passes a bipartisan bill for aid to israel and ukraine but hardline immigration politics threaten its future in the house. doctors sound the alarm about a cheap and easy to find supplement known as "gas station heroin" -- part of a growing group of unregulated and potentially addictive products.

and, fresh off re-election, the president of el salvador continues his gang crackdown --- which has already fueled mass arrests and concerns about democracy. >> the challenge is, helping people who have been subjected to the terror of gangs for decades, process what might have been lost in exchange for that security. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour including cathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. cunard is a proud supporter of

public television. on a voyage with cunard, a world of flavor, diverse destinations and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style. all with cunard's top star service. ♪ >> the john --john s. and james l. knight fostering engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. a big day on capitol hill where early this morning u.s. senators passed a $95 billion plan to fund ukraine, israel and other foreign aid and where tonight the house of representatives plans another attempt at impeaching homeland security secretary george santos. a few days ago it was not even clear this bill could get through the senate and what happened? >> there was a rare weekend session after the tumultuous week last week and overnight, a 6:00 a.m. vote this morning. the senate did vote to pass ukraine foreign aid bill which

is a $95 billion bill, the largest amount is for ukraine. $60 billion. there is $14 for israel and other $10 million for humanitarian aid, including gaza. also, international operations related to fentanyl. here is what happened. in the end, it was veteran senators feeling there was a complete need to support ukraine. let's look at who voted for this. republican senators, 22 of them. that is a full range of very conservative to more in the middle. i will look at this group in another way. the map of where these senators are from. senators supporting this ukraine foreign aid ill come from middle of the country and the heart of the republican party as well as

maga, trump country. many of these are big trump states. 70 votes for this bill. zelensky personally pleading with senators. he was able to get more than enough republican votes in the senate today. amna: the vote now moves to the house. how strong is opposition to that bill, and how are president biden and supporters of the bill taking that on? >> there is a strong opposition by a variety of reasons -- for a variety of reasons. it will be an obstacle. the white house is aware. president biden took this on today. he said helping ukraine is an existential matter for the world. pres. biden: if we do not stop putin's appetite for control and power in ukraine, he will not limit himself just to ukraine. the cost for america and our allies and partners will rise.

republicans in congress who think they can oppose funding in ukraine and not be held accountable, history is watching. amna: opponents, some say they want something else added to this bill. those who oppose ukraine aid say this is a misplaced priority. here is a senator speaking last night. >> the more accurate party -- title for this would be, ukraine first, america last, because they are prioritizing the border of ukraine over the border of the united states. >> here is where it gets more interesting and difficult. speaker mike johnson of the house said today he will not bring up this senate passed bill even though it got 71 votes, an overwhelming vote, because he said it needs a border element in it.

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

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

on impeachment tonight. amna: lisa, thank you. ♪ amna: in the days other headlines the labor department's , latest look at the u.s. economy raises new questions about how fast inflation is easing. consumer prices in january were up 3.1% from a year ago -- smaller than the annual increase in december. but month to month, prices rose 0.3% -- and that was slightly more than in december. analysts attributed much of it to rising costs of homes, rentals and hotel rooms. on wall street inflation numbers raised fears interest rates will stay higher longer than expected. the dow jones lost 524 points or 1.3% to close at 38,272. the nasdaq fell 1.8%, and the

s&p 500 dropped 1.3%. a winter storm disrupted schools, commutes and flights across much of the northeast today. snow fell from new york city to massachusetts, and parts of pennsylvania got 15 inches. the storm also brought winds gusting to 60 miles an hour and coastal flooding in some areas. many government offices and schools closed, and more than a thousand flights were canceled. the heads of the cia and israel's spy agency discussed a possible cease-fire in gaza today with the leaders of egypt and qatar. this as israel threatens an all-out assault on rafah where 1.4 million palestinians are sheltering. many refugees packed up today after shelling overnight. israel says it is working on plans to move them and u.s. officials insisted they be protected.

>> any credible plan would have to take into account their physical movement, safe movement, as well as proper substance, -- food, water, medicine. amna: the state department says it is investigating reports that israeli forces killed a 17-year-old palestinian-american in the west bank, on saturday. another palestinian-american teen was killed in the west bank last month. the pentagon says defense secretary lloyd austin has been released from the hospital and has resumed his duties. he was being treated for bladder complications from a prostate cancer surgery. he had canceled a trip this week to meet with nato ministers on ukraine aid. flight attendants rallied at major u.s. and british airports today in a push for higher wages. pickets went up at 30 airports total, in the day-long protest. attendants argue that pilots have scored big labor deals, but cabin crews have gone unrewarded.

a special congressional election in new york is being closely watched tonight as a possible bellwether for the fall elections. democrat tom suozzi faces republican mazi pilip in a contest with a heavy focus on the influx of migrants. the winner replaces republican george santos, who was expelled from the house in december over charges of corruption and stealing campaign cash. in new orleans, today was "mardi gras" -- "fat tuesday" -- the grand finale of "carnival" season. all day long, floats paraded through the french quarter and down major thoroughfares. as always, the centuries-old tradition featured elaborate costumes, live music and colorful bead chains. and, the reconstruction of paris' famed "notre dame" cathedral has reached a new milestone. scaffolding is being removed from the top of the medieval landmark for the first time since a devastating fire in

20. -- 2019. it reveals a new spire with a golden rooster and cross. the cathedral is expected to reopen in december. still to come on the "newshour," ai generated misinformation threatens -- threatens election integrity. privacy concerns lead so-called "momfluencers" to stop showing their kids on social media. actor jeffrey wright discusses his oscar-nominated role in the film "american fiction," plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: from robo calls to deepfakes, artificial intelligence is already playing a role in the 2024 election. today the washington post and axios reported that companies like meta, google and tiktok

admitted to misleading content on their platforms. laura barrón-lópez has been covering what this means for the upcoming election. how have we seen ai already play a role in the election? laura: last week it was ruled robo calls using ai generated content are illegal. that comes after the new hampshire attorney general launched an investigation into robo calls that used ai to impersonate resident joe biden's voice leading up to the new hampshire primary and that so far traced robo calls back to a texas company called life corp.. the investigation is ongoing. we saw a number of ads using ai generative content with the rnc using imagery and video to depict a dystopian future under a second bite in term. we also -- biden term.

we also saw the super pac aligned with santos' campaign. donald trump's campaign putting out video using ai that impersonated ron desantis' voice. you are seeing a suite of ai being used by republicans. the biden administration said they have legal academics to combat this content. amna: what are concerns? what have experts told you about how ai is a potential threat to democracy? laura: this is a change in degree. it is not that ai has not been used before, but ai generative tools are more widely available and sophisticated. ai threats in 2024 include things like robo calls that can clone a voice, phishing

templates, realistic deepfake video and photography and spoof accounts impersonating officials, offices and news outlets. unlike 2016, ai is faster, cheaper year, easier to make because of the widely available ai generative tools. i spoke to the senior counsel at states united democracy, a nonpartisan group focused on election security. she summed up the dangers. >> election officials are already doing their jobs in such an elevated threat environment. they are facing harassment, threats of physical violence, disruptions to their administration of elections, they are having trouble recruiting staff and coworkers. they do not have enough resources. adding artificial intelligence is potentially going to make these election officials' jobs even more difficult. it is like pouring accelerant on this already very flammable substance. laura: one example, the

aftermath of 2020, in 2022, there were republicans and those circulating debunked video of what they called pull workers cheating -- poll workers cheating or throwing away ballots. ai allows them to manipulate the video to make it look real. amna: those emails and robo calls, are they being targeted at certain groups? who is most at risk? laura: the new power of ai allows bad actors to target specific groups. in 2020, minority communities were targeted with robo calls that discouraged them from voting. now because ai generative tools are more sophisticated, they can tailor content to specific communities and make emails and calls more convincing. amna: meta announced they will

be flagging images and ai generated content there. is enough being done to safeguard this kind of content? laura: even though those companies are deciding to label the content, they are not outright banning it notably x, formerly twitter, has not agreed to label content that could be fake. i spoke to an expert, a director from the brennan center for justice. he told me that labeling ai imagery and video is a good first step, but that alternately , it is on the companies to be the gatekeepers and the able to protect democracy. >> they have the responsibility to ensure to extent possible anything generated by ai is labeled for the public, but to increase their trust and safety teams to be on the look for coordinated bot activity that

could be disinformation campaigns, to be on the lookout for fake news sites and to take those down. i would like to see them take as much responsibility for our democracy and integrity of our democracy. laura: policing is all on the tech companies because there is no federal legislation mandating they do this. they have to do it of their own accord and there is no federal legislation banning the use of ai content in political ads. even if there were, it does not stop foreign actors from using it. amna: what can people do to stay vigilant and not get fooled? laura: this technology is very confusing for a lot of people and many may not understand even the labeling companies are saying they will put on ai generative content. it is not easy to see on an ad or videos or further graphs. advice experts give is to trust

known sources. if you see something that might be fake floating around on the internet or social media or from an influencer, go to a known news outlet. also if it is a question about voting go to your local state, county election official websites. amna: great advice. thank you. ♪ amna: the food and drug administration has issued warnings about a potentially addictive dietary supplement that's widely available in the u.s. ali rogin has the latest. reporter: the fda is asking americans not to purchase or use any products from the supplemental brand neptune's fix which has a substance called tianeptine. some countries have approved it to treat depression and anxiety. it is unapproved, u.s., but is available in drug stores and

online. it is nicknamed gas station heroin and can be highly addictive. there are several warnings from the fda including seizures, loss of consciousness and death. a doctor at harvard medical school joins me now. thank you for joining me. can you explain exactly what tianeptine is? >> it is a pharmaceutical drug originally produced in europe as an antidepressant. unfortunately at higher levels it can be addictive and for that reason has not gotten widespread use. it has never been approved for use for any medical reason in the u.s.. >> if not, how is it it can be sold in the united states? >> what we see as a sadly tragic pattern is, many companies take foreign drugs and introduce them

directly to users in the u.s. by selling them as if they are dietary supplements. they appear on the market and start selling them to consumers. >> we spoke earlier to two health professionals who have seen patients who have been using tianeptine and i want to play what they told us. >> these patients have increased heart rates, are very agitated and they will admit they use a lot of the product. in other words, they are using it very routinely, they have built up such a high tolerance to it and a craving for it that they will go to great lengths to get it. the presentation of the withdrawal will be similar to someone going through oxycodone withdrawal, heroin withdrawal. >> we are putting a fair number of people in our intensive care units and had to put them in because they were becoming so agitated, so confused. there were concerns for heart

problems, seizures. some people with withdrawal patterns feel uncomfortable, but a fair number get very ill and require close monitoring. >> the last doctor said a fair number of people he is seeing. do we have a sense how big this problem is? >> it has ticked up over the last decade. back before 2015, we had -- before 2015, we had never heard of tianeptine. poison control calls, reports to the fda, serious ones described from seizures to stopping breathing to the point of intubation and death have all been reported. they are coming in more frequently. >> the fda has issued several warnings over the past six years. neptune's fix has agreed to a voluntary recall. are warnings all the fda can do? why are their hands seemingly so

tied? >> one problem is how it got to market in the first place. there is no need for companies to vet products they sell as it supplements with the fda before they are sold. that is a major problem and would require a change to the law. there is a second major problem which requires -- is that the fda requires -- is aware of tianeptine being imported to the u.s. for nine years. it was in 2018 when they first warned about tianeptine. the fact it has been many years since the fda was aware of the risk and has done nothing other than issue a warning to consumers and the company is, frankly, embarrassing. they are neglecting their responsibility to protect people from dangers. >> does this represent negligence on part of the fda or is this how the regulatory

framework has been constructed and existed for so long? >> the fact tianeptine is sold in the u.s. in the first place, back in 2018, there is no negligence on the fda's part. the fact it is still sold today and people are still dying and ending up in intensive care units due to tianeptine falls completely on the fda not doing their part ensuring dangerous supplements are removed from the marketplace. >> several states have banned tianeptine. do we expect others to go in the same direction? >> unfortunately with the fda not moving definitively as they need to and could, states are left to fend for themselves, protect their own citizens against dangerous dietary supplements such as tianeptine. i would expect more states to move aggressively against these products. >> is there a role congress

could play? >> they could have two impactful roles. they could ask the fda to enforce the law. when there are dangerous dietary supplements, they are removed from store shelves. the fda uses all their enforcement potential including mandatory recalls. the second thing they would need to do, if we are going to protect consumers from the next tianeptine, is, reform the law so the fda can ensure products are introduced into the u.s. that are not foreign, dangerous drugs. >> there are other dietary supplements not regulated by the fda or approved, kratom among them. what is your concern about those? >> kratom and other drugs are

sold as dietary supplements but should not be. the fda is not doing enough to get those off of store shelves. we studied one before and after fda warnings and found dosages increased in the products after fda warnings. the fda's actions are inadequate to date. they need to do more because it is not just these three products, tianeptine, kratom, phenibut, but others. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. amna: last week el salvador's president bukele was reelected.

he first came into power in 2019 and for nearly two years has overseen a vast and brutal crackdown on gangs, transforming the nation from one of the deadliest in the world one of the safest in latin america, but that peace has come at a cost, thousands of innocent people jailed and and undermined democracy. i traveled to two cities north of the capital san salvador to file this report. reporter: for two years, patricia has prayed for her partner's return. victor was imprisoned in the el salvador's war on gangs. >> i do not know anything about him and that hurts because we were a very united family. reporter: his absence is felt in every room and at every meal. in 2022, victor and patricia's son roderigo were arrested, without evidence, for alleged gang ties.

roderigo was just 16 years old. what happened in prison? >> they beat me. when i had a stomach ache, headache, instead of medicine, they would take us all out and beat us. reporter: about 70 people shared a single cell, but only 10 or so were gang members. >> they were the ones who controlled the cell. they would ask for medicine and they got it. to those who were not anything, they would treat us badly. those from the neighboring cell would urinate on us and police did nothing. reporter: police said victor had a criminal record, but patricia denies gang ties. she has showed documents for release ignored by the court. >> she has been gathering letters from church, his employer where he worked for 22 years, submitting all of this to the courts, but they have made no difference. reporter: victor wasn't swept up

as bukele part of president bukele's crackdown on gangs that have terrorized el salvador. for more than two decades, warring factions of gangs killed and extorted civilians with impunity, turning el salvador to the murder capital of the world. the digital editor of an acclaimed investigative newspaper -- >> people who lived on gang controlled communities, for those that used public transportation or were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was unbelievable. reporter: bukele swept into power in 2019. his first year in office the murder rate dropped in half. but in 2022, 87 people killed in one weekend. bukele responded with an iron fist, deployed military, limited some rights, and empowered

police to arrest without a warrant. this officer whose identity we are protecting said officers were issued arrest quotas. at one point, five arrests a day. >> given we had arrest goals, when we no longer found gang members, we began arresting people who had nothing to do with gangs. reporter: what happens to those people after you arrest them? >> they are detained and we charge them with the crime of unlawful association. a lot of innocent people are still in prison. we have participated in that because we thought they would be released soon and that has not been the case. >> the majority of them disappeared into the prison system. family members do not know if they are alive, cannot contact them. reporter: noah is the director of a human rights group based in el salvador. they have documented thousands of arbitrary arrest during that state of exception as well as

abuse and death inside prisons. we spoke during his recent visit to washington. for those detained, what is recourse for their families? what do they do? >> very little. what is lost in terms of rights during the state of exception is the guarantee have a fair trial, to be able to defend themselves against these types of charges, and for many families, it becomes a reign of terror. that is what a catholic bishop called it. reporter: in san martin, we are toured around streets once too dangerous to walk. he is the mayor. >> dead people, extortion, territories controlled by the gangs. there was no freeze -- there was no freedom, even for residents.

it was a state within a state. reporter: what used to be one of the most deadly areas of the country is now safe enough for children to play. to give you a sense of how dramatically life has changed, people told us this wall -- road was a dividing line. that one was patrolled by the ms-13 and this by the 18th street gang and for some, crossing would be a death sentence. reporter: he carries a weapon wherever he goes, but says bukele's policies have been transformative. what about the innocent people rounded up and held as part of this state exception that are completely innocent? >> yes, those detained here, some have been released already. i have faith in god that those who do not fear and will be judged will be freed. reporter: the government has released 7000 people, but thousands of families say their

innocent loved ones are still held. maribel last saw her son jorge luis a few months ago outside a vegetable stand. her son had no criminal record. she said he was arrested to fulfill a police quota. >> another mother who was there whose son was also arrested that day, before she left the police station heard policing, i need one more. that one more was my son. reporter: no visitors are allowed at the prison he is held, but once a month shoe drops off food and clothing he will not get inside. each package costs almost $100, 1/3 of her monthly income. after a friend sent her a photo of a much thinner jorge luis in the hospital, she spares no expense. >> i can wait, but my son

cannot. i do not know how they can sleep with these injustices they are creating. i will never stay silent because they do not want a funeral home to call me and tell me my son is in a morgue. reporter: of the tens of thousands arrested, the majority have not faced trial. a new law allows for mass trials of up to nine -- 900 at a time. >> we do guarantee all these people will face justice. a judged decision on whether they are guilty or innocent. we are now in the transitional process and will soon begin accusations. reporter: critics say president bukele's grip on power has only tightened. in his first term he removed the attorney general and replaced top judges, reinterpreted the constitution, allowing him to run for a second consecutive

term. the government has also targeted critics including human rights groups and journalists. >> we have gotten death threats. our lives and jobs are in danger. reporter: el salvadoreans free of gain control support bukele. hje won -- hw -- he won reelection with 83% of the vote. >> we went from the most dangerous country in the world to the most secure and all the western hemisphere. >> the security results are felt by everyone. the challenge is, people subjected to the terror of gangs for decades, process what might have been lost in exchange for that security. reporter: what is a second term under bukele mean for democracy? >> the end of it.

what do you call a system where one person calls all the shots and there is no separation of power? it would be hard to quality democracy. reporter: today the streets of el salvador are largely quiet and peaceful, but many fear this will not prevail for long. ♪ amna: on platforms like tiktok, instagram and youtube, so called "momfluencers" share parenting tips, tribulations, and candid moments raising kiddos. it's part of the multi-billion dollar online influencing industry, and --given its focus on kids -- raises questions about privacy, consent, and who -- consent area stephanie sy reports on a trend among some of these content creators to avoid showing their kids. >> we are getting ready for day one of potty training my two-year-old. reporter: on tiktok, deja smith

has built a following by posting about her life as a stay-at-home mother of a toddler. >> i'm also a first time mom and i don't know what the hell i'm doing. >> i'm just a regular mom, middle-class, you know just living kind of like a boring life every day. so people love that. reporter: but one thing you won't see in her videos, at least not anymore, is her daughter's face -- a decision she made about a year into being a content creator. >> i was getting a lot of interaction under my videos that were just specifically pertaining to my daughter. i always wanted to base my content around so when people are starting to center it around my daughter, that's when it got uncomfortable for me. reporter: smith scrubbed her social media of her daughter's face, even making content about the challenge of keeping a toddler out of her videos. >> back up, back up, back up. reporter: smith is part of a growing trend among so-called “momfluencers” choosing to not show their kids in their content. >> when i first started doing

it, like 12 people were seeing my videos. thing more traction. reporter: content creator “menzie” doesn't use her last name publicly, part of a strategy to protect her kid's identity. she's built up a following making tiktoks on the importance of emotional validation, including where she embodies kids' perspectives. [scream] >> knock it off, i can't deal with this today! i can't either, obviously. it is easier to show kids. it's easy to play on that parasocial relationship. when other people feel bonded to your kid and they feel like they know your kid, they become that much more invested in your life. reporter: menzie says her decision to not show her child is largely because he doesn't have a say. >> it's hard to think about it because we didn't have the internet when we were young, but if all of my childhood pictures and videos were just out for

anyone to see, and i didn't realize it for the longest time, and then all of a sudden i did realize it, that would not go over well with me and my parents. i know that's how i would feel. and so i don't feel comfortable doing it to him. >> you can pick out anything you want from the closet. reporter: brittany balyn has built a large audience on youtube over more than a decade and made content creation her full-time job. >> my channel has evolved with me. and in the motherhood sphere, it was very much there was a lot of great information, but it was showing the highlights and the positive moments. of course, there is that, but i felt like more of, just the real and the raw needed to be shared to help these moms not feel alone. reporter: last august balyn announced to her more than half million subscribers that she would no longer show her 3-year-old daughter in her videos. >> i hope you stay with me and be part of my channel and if you

don't that's okay because the only opinion that really matters to me is that of my daughter. one thing that really kind of triggered something was meeting another mother at a kids class and her, instead of coming to me first, meeting my daughter, saying her name, knowing things about her. and you know, there was no ill intent from the mother. it just made me realize that in the wrong hands, this information could be used in a very sinister fashion. reporter: bayln says that the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and that it has not affected her income. but she's also made the decision to leave her old videos with her kiddo up for now. >> once something is up, it lives forever. whether you're a content creator or you're just posting to facebook and maybe i'll change my mind one day.

as a mother, as an adult, you are always learning and growing and evolving, but as of right now, the content is still live. reporter: despite the trend toward removing kids from some “momfluencer” content, many children's lives are on display on the internet, and some states are responding with new laws. last year, illinois passed a first-of-it's kind law requiring parents to set aside a portion of earnings from social media content that features their kids for their kids. this year, at least seven other states have introduced similar legislation. fortesa latifi is a features reporter for teen vogue who has been covering all this and joins me now. it is good to have you on the newshour. i just read a piece that you wrote titled, the kids who had their childhoods made into content, about the impacts living one's life on social media has had on some kids, now adults. tell me the stories you uncovered. fortesa: it was interesting. i spoke to woman who grew up on social media, first went viral

as a toddler. by elementary school her parents quit their full-time jobs because youtube was the family business. she told me, there is nothing my parents can do now to take away the amount of work i had to put in and that is so striking to me. stephanie: how pervasive are stories like that? are you getting the sense there is a whole generation of kids being exploited online by their parents? fortesa: there is. we are just seeing those kids reach adulthood now and start to tell their stories. stephanie: we just heard from momfluencers who decided voluntarily to remove their kids faces from content. what is driving that decision and are they in the minority? fortesa: it is a cultural conversation around child privacy and what kids consent to and what they cannot consent to online. do we want to be creating detailed online footprints for our kids? people are starting to ask that

question. i would say the majority of parent influencers still do show their kids online, but we have had big creators with millions of followers who made the decision to take their kids off-line. a year or so ago you would not question whether an influencer would show their kid online, but now it is a question. knowing it is not a given shows how much of the culture has changed in the last year. stephanie: do you have any sense of how their followers feel about them taking their kids faces off-line? you heard one mother say viewers of the content relate to seeing the kid. do those moms suffer monetarily when they make that decision? fortesa: they do because people want to see their kids. they have gotten attached to the kids, are interested in seeing them. when they do not show them anymore, they may get less branded and sponsored content deals.

that is difficult. one thing i have talked to several mom influencers about, people's reaction to them taking their kids off-line made them sure they were doing the right thing. people would say, i miss them so much, their tiktok aunts and uncles miss them, how could you take them from us? the intensity of that reaction proved to the parents they did the right thing. stephanie: i love that you write it is maternal instinct that made these momfluencers make that decision. there was a law passed last year in illinois, the first to require that money made for these videos be set aside for kids featured in them in a trust fund. what are the impacts and how much traction are using for legal protections for children of influencers elsewhere? fortesa: it is a huge deal. illinois made history with that law, the first in the country to protect monetary gains of child

influencers. it is a big deal because often the first is the most difficult to pass. now we have seen this mirror where there are seven other states that have introduced laws that would either mirror illinois' or take it further and have privacy protections with what is called the right to be forgotten. just last year we passed the first law in the country and there are seven other states working to become the second. you do see this momentum after the illinois law that was not there before. stephanie: do you think the tide is turning toward more protections for kids and teens online? a lot of child advocates would say a three-year-old cannot consent to being put out publicly on social media, even if by their parents. fortesa: i do think the tide is changing. you can see it in comments of influencers that still show their kids.

half the comments are positive, but half are negative. it is a huge change. a year ago no one was commenting that they are exploiting their kids or are you saving money for them? now half their comments are asking them to address this elephant in the room. this controversy is picking up speed. stephanie: fortesa, thank you. fortesa: thank you for having me. amna: jeffrey wright has had one of the most varied and distinguished acting careers of recent decades. while best known in supporting roles, he's now received his first oscar nomination as the lead in “american fiction,” a film itself nominated for best picture. jeffrey brown spoke to him for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> why are these books here? i do not know.

i would imagine the author ellison is lack. >> that is me. jeffrey b.: in “american fiction” jeffrey wright plays thelonius ellison, known as "monk," a black writer who finds himself rejected by publishers because his novels aren't “black enough” enough, that is, for a culture demanding just one kind of black story. >> i will put them back after you leave. don't you dare. jeffrey w.: it has been in some ways energizing. jeffrey b.: for the actor, who brought us to his favorite neighborhood cafe, “brooklyn moon,” in brooklyn's fort greene section, the film presented a new kind of role, one that often hits close to home. jeffrey w.: i usually have to reshape myself to find a character. i like working that way, i like to create characters, you know, a different man from one film to another. it allows me to be useful in many, across many different genres. jeffrey b.: and get outside yourself.

jeffrey w.: and get outside myself. and i like, you know, playing with the "mask." so, you know, this was a unique one, yeah. >> you look like you could use a scrub. >> i'm clean. jeffrey b.: wright starred in the 1996 film, “basquiat,” but he's perhaps made his biggest mark through his brilliant, almost chameleon-like, character roles. >> i live in america, i do not have the love it. jeffrey b.: in dramas such as “angels in america," “boardwalk empire," and "westworld," big blockbusters including “hunger games," and three “bond” films. and the quirky world of wes anderson, in “asteroid city.” jeffrey w.: i've had people say, i didn't even realize that was you in these two movies i watched last week. i did not recognize you. i like that. jeffrey b.: you do like that. jeffrey w.: yeah. i like to create, you know, these characters. jeffrey b.: so much goes on in your face.

jeffrey w.: i think that the most forceful tool when working film is the two eyes. you know, the window. so i do try to use those with a certain kind of subtle intensity. jeffrey b.: you are thinking about that, in some sense? jeffrey w.: no i'm just , expressing story through the eyes. >> where are you going? >> to the pharmacy. jeffrey b.: in the eyes of "monk," an upper middle class writer from a family of doctors, bafflement, frustration, grief. >> why am i the last to know? >> because you love them too much. jeffrey b.: “american fiction," directed by first-time director cord jefferson, who adapted it from percival everett's novel, “erasure," is partly a send-up of today's publishing industry -- facing more rejection, monk writes an over-the-top, street version of black life, using a

pseudonym and, to his shock, publishers love it. he's finally got a bestseller, except it's not a work he stands by and it's not, technically, by him. >> we love it. >> what? >> is very -- >> black? >> yes. jeffrey b.: this film is certainly, at least partly looking at the cliches of black life as shown in popular culture. did that resonate with you? jeffrey w.: yeah, certainly. and i don't think it's restricted to the publishing world or to, you know, the world of film. i think it's across our culture that, there's preconceptions or misrepresentations of who we are as individuals. i don't think it's necessarily confined to the black experience either, this idea of not being seen. i certainly understand the pressures that the character feels. i don't think that i necessarily share his frustration and rage. i think maybe because of the way

i work, i've been able to, you know, work my way around some of those obstacles that have been put in my way. i can't complain about my career. jeffrey b.: that resistance that he's up against, you're playing you know that, but you haven't experienced it quite as much? jeffrey w.: no, i've experienced it. but, i don't know, maybe i've outsmarted it. jeffrey b.: outsmarted it? jeffrey w.: yeah. it's not impossible to do. jeffrey b.: how did you do jeffrey w.: i am just better than that just by being better , than the resistance to who i am as an artist. i've always thought that if i was good at what i did and i worked hard at it, that everything else would flow from that. when i was younger as an actor, i didn't want to make money. jeffrey b.: you didn't want to make money? jeffrey w.: no, it wasn't an interest of mine. i wanted to pay my rent. but it wasn't, you know, i wasn't doing it to pursue a lot of money. i wanted to be good at what i

had chosen to do i wanted to be , a good actor. and i figured everything else would take care of itself. jeffrey b.: wright cites the example of other actors who came before him and some active today, including leslie uggams, who in “american fiction” plays his aging mother with increasing signs of dementia. >> you look fat. >> i know. jeffrey b.: in fact, it's the family relationships in the film that most resonated for wright. >> books change people's lives. jeffrey b.: his own mother, a lawyer who worked for the federal government, had died just a year before filming began. and a beloved aunt had come to live with him and his family. jeffrey w.: i had kids, trying to make sure she was well, the pandemic rushed in. i was feeling pressure from a lot of sides. as the character in the film realizes that kind of youthful, blissful delusion that as you get older, life will become easier.

i was disabused -- jeffrey b.: not happening. jeffrey w.: no, no. that went away. jeffrey b.: for now, at least, a different kind of swirl in jeffrey wright's life, as he's feted and honored for his latest role. is this kind of recognition still important to you? jeffrey w.: yeah. i think it is important when your peers and colleagues say, well done. when they show appreciation for the work and in this case, for the film, in such a generous way, yeah, yeah, that has meaning. the thing that i like that i've grown to appreciate about working on film is my responsibility when the camera rolls. jeffrey b.: how do you define that responsibility? jeffrey w.: it's to fill up the frame with whatever, whatever aspect of the story i'm responsible for, but that represents everyone's work. it represents the electricians'

work the gaffers, the grips, the , people who work in the administrative office. it's all about what's happening in the frame at any given moment. and when it's my responsibility to be that in that place, i like it, but like that i am part of a larger whole. that is my gig, is to tell the story. jeffrey b.: jeffrey wright, congratulations and thanks again. jeffrey w.: thank you, thank you for having me and thank you for coming to the neighborhood. amna: that is the newshour for tonight. i am amna nawaz. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how can i help you? this is a pocket dial. with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. it is kind of everything.

-- of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that can access. -- connects us. >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security, 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 from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. no, i would not protect you, in fact, i would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. you got to pay. >> american allies aghast after trump invites putin to invade nato countries. i get reaction from independent u.s. senator angus king. then -- >> this is an operation that we have been preparing for awhile. >> israel rescues two hostages,