yemen -- saudi airstrikes in yemen kill 80 people. the u.s. is calling for an investigation. ♪ anchor: you are watching "al jazeera." live from doha. also coming, no breakthrough for talks to diffuse tensions in ukraine as russian diplomats meet in geneva. a powerful blast reduces a mining town in canada to rebel,

triggered by a collision between a motorcycle and a vehicle carrying explosives. tens of thousands rally in washington and ahead of a legal showdown over the right to abortion in the u.s. ♪ anchor: thank you very much for joining us. the united nations secretary general antonio guterres is calling for an investigation after airstrikes by the saudi led coalition killed or than 80 people in western yemen. at least three children are among the dead. the strikes hit a detention center in a port city during -- getting condemnation from the united nations. our correspondent reports from new york. reporter: airstrikes have been carried out on who the hell territory in yemen all week. this one was by far the most deadly. the main target seems to have been a detention center in the houthi stronghold.

the death toll continues to rise as they find bodies, many believed to be migrants, while searching for survivors. the bombardment this week by the saudi led coalition follows a brazen attack by the houthi's using drones on the capital with a united arab emirates which killed three people. in new york, at the u.n., the security council met behind closed doors to discuss that attack, but not the attacks on houthi controlled areas. the current president of the council is norway. i asked its ambassador for her country's reaction to the scale of the death toll. >> it is not acceptable. and we absolutely call for restraint on all sides. reporter: after the meeting, the ambassador of the united arab emirates flagged by representatives of six other councilmembers, including --

including france, the u.k. in the u.s. gave a statement. >> this aggression by the houthi s and the proliferation of other technology, that enabled the terrorist attack. reporter: she made no mention of the attack by the coalition of which the uae is one of the two main members, so i pressed the ambassador. your defense under law has to be proportionate, and the president of the council norway speaking at a national capacity said the attack that took place was unacceptable. >> what you have heard today, and you all know following the work of the council that this is rare, what you have heard today is the unanimous condemnation by the security council against the terrorist attack against the united arab emirates on monday the 17th of january. reporter: i'm not asking about that. i'm asking about your response on whether it was proportionate, given at least 60 people have died. >> i would like to refer you to the coalition statement on that matter. i would like to affirm that the coalition undertakes to abide by

international law and proportionate response in all its military operations. reporter: human rights groups have criticized the secure to counsel's approach as one-sided. the council did issue a statement, but only on the drone attack on abu dhabi. the secretary-general of the united nations antonio guterres has addressed the carnage in set out and other attacks in houthi controlled areas. he has called for prompt, effective, and transparent investigations. james bays, al jazeera, at the united nations. anchor: while yemen civil war has turned into the world's worst humanitarian crisis, infrastructure has been ruined, the medical system has all but collapsed, and millions are going hungry. a report by the uinta milliman program estimates the war has killed 377,000 people, both through violence and indirectly through hunger and disease. more than 5 million people are on the brink of famine, and

50,000 others are living in famine like conditions. around half the country does not have access to enough food. the conflict has forced more than 4.5 yemenis to flee their homes. nearly 3500 were displaced in the first two weeks of this year alone. while the saudi led coalition has caused most of the devon nation -- the devastation, houthis have used landmines across the country. joining me now is jamal benham are, a former u.n. special envoy for yemen. he is joining us live from new york. thank you for being with us. the seven year conflict in yemen intensifying again. the attack on the uae this week seems to have opened up a new front. what is your reaction to this latest escalation? is a saudi led look coalition response proportionate as the human ambassador claims? >> obviously it is not proportionate. over the last seven years, of widespread war crimes committed

by the 70 led coalition -- the saudi led coalition, and this is another episode in this sad process of violations that have affected the lives of millions of people, as you have explained in the introduction. it is a sign of desperation from the saudi coalition side. when they enter -- when they decided to launch this war in yemen, they promised that they will bring back their proxies or their clients to power within three weeks. seven years have passed and they have not been able to achieve any of their objectives. they failed, consistently, to bring an end to this war. in fact, their intervention has only, located an already

complicated situation in yemen. anchor: the airstrikes in the west killed at least 80 people. most of them migrants, we understand. the united nations is calling for an investigation. do you think there will be accountability? >> there has been no accountability whatsoever since the start of this war. in my last report, when i was a u.n. envoy, that was in april 2015, and that last report, i've drew their attention of the council to report allegations of war crimes committed by the coalition. mainly through airstrikes. and we have seen consistently that civilian targets were victims of these attacks, funerals, weddings, a bus full

of children was blown up. and more recently, the saudi intensive lobbying managed to bring to an end the only human rights mechanism that has existed the last few years under the human rights council. there was a panel of experts investigating this report. but they managed to get an f member states to shoot down this investigation. since then, these attacks on civilians and these airstrikes have increased dramatically and there is no end in sight. anchor: within a month of taking office, u.s. president biden had promised to push for ending the war in yemen, partly by cutting off arms sales to saudi arabia. why hasn't that happened? isn't there a collective failure here, collective responsibility, a failure from countries like the united states? >> it is a failure from not only the united states said, but the permanent members of the

council. the reality is that all the five members, instead of cooperating to try and find a way on how to compel the saudi's to end their war in yemen, and compel the yemeni side to enter in good faith and a political process, to end the strife, they in fact have been competing for lucrative contracts with saudi arabia. so, the highest body in the world, the united nations, the un security council, the members have not been -- have not played, i'm afraid, a positive role in the last few years, particularly since 2015. the biden administration, everybody welcomed the announcement by the president, that efforts would be made to bring this war to an end. and a special envoy was appointed. but what they see recently is

the united states resuming their sales to saudi arabia, sales of arms, and other big contracts, military contracts. in this context, the united states has taken sides. they cannot be a mediator, as they have claimed. anchor: there had been progress in trying to achieve a cease-fire. would you say now that we are back at square one? and what do you think needs to happen to achieve a sustainable, political solution? including accountability? >> i think what needs to happen is that the yemenis will need to be left alone, left to sort out their problems through negotiating directly with each other, as they have done for years, whenever there was any

strife or conflicts. we should not forget how this conflict started. it started with the houthis taking over, or in 2014, and houthis and muslim brotherhood, the other factions and it was the facility at that time to work out an agreement for a way forward and they were close to an agreement until the saudi's decided to launch this war on yemen. since then, it has been a complete failure, no political process, no negotiations, really genuine good faith negotiations taken place. they feel emboldened when they see the u.s. and resume in their arms sales. the saudi council, when they condemned the attack on the uae

on the houthis, but here you are, the news today of more than 100 and casualties -- 100 casualties, all civilians. obviously there will not be any statements from the security council. the international community has not played a helpful role in the last seven years. they are becoming party to these conflicts. that is what the reality is. they are sending the signal that they can do whatever they like in yemen. anchor: thank you for talking to us and sharing your views. former u.n. special envoy in yemen, he was joining us from new york. thank you for your time. >> thank you. anchor: in other world news the u.s. and russia have held what they say are frank talks as they try to resolve their front --

their standoff over ukraine. moscow insists nato should not let ukraine join the alliance. . that has been rejected by washington, its european allies, and nato. the russian buildup on the ukrainian border has fielded weeks of tensions and has raised fears of conflict. natasha: at a hotel in geneva, the u.s. secretary of state and russian foreign minister for crucial talks aimed at diffusing tensions over ukraine. and then he blinken and survey lie graph -- and sir j lavrov both said a breakthrough was unlikely. >> i do hope and expect that we can attest whether we can have does -- have diplomacy or dialogue. >> we are not expecting a breakthrough at this meeting. we are expecting answers to our proposals. natasha: after the meeting, lavrov said in wanted a written response from the u.s. to its demand, including a guarantee that nato will not grant

membership to ukraine. something blinken has repeatedly called a nonstarter. but he said the u.s. would respond to russia if moscow addressed its concerns and respected ukrainian sovereignty. >> we have been clear. if any russian military forces move across ukraine's border, that is a renewed innovation, it will be met with swift, severe, and a united response from the united states and our partisan allies. natasha: u.s. intelligence says russia has already amassed at least 100,000 troops on its western border. and is moving weapons into allied belarus, north of ukraine. the u.s. and russian positions are clearly far apart. blinken and lavrov making little real progress. the two men did agree to continue to pursue diplomacy as a way of de-escalating a crisis which could lead to war. it was on the shores of lake

geneva that talks between the u.s. and russia led to the end of the cold war. decades on, old rivalries have resurfaced, both sides accuse each other of aggression and relations of dangerously deteriorated. the outlook for the coming weeks is turbulent. natasha butler, al jazeera, geneva. anchor: still ahead on "al jazeera." thousands of displaced a syrians struggle to stay warm and find shelter after a snowstorm rips through their tents. ♪ >> thank you for joining in. we had extreme flooding earlier in the week. i think there is more in the forecast on saturday with storms around the river plate region. the darker the color, the more intense the rain is falling. severe thunderstorms to be expected.

for the top end of south america, storms are through the andes, the amazon basin. but really the concentration will be for western areas. around mexico, we had a lot of activity in the gulf of mexico. that is pressed further to the south and the east. we have driving rain to be expected here from the yucatan peninsula, including cancun with a high of 25 degrees. all of those icy conditions we saw along the carolinas have pushed out. a shot of snow to be expected. could see snow -- could be storms for seven areas of florida. the bulk of the energy toward the atlantic. it is going to raise up and impact canadian providence. could see about 10 centimeters of snow. still cold in the east. -19, the high for you. after the west, subtle conditions to be expected. vancouver, seven. same goes for the west coast of the u.s. san diego in a for 21 degrees on saturday. .

that is it. see you soon. >> to gain a culture -- and to reward merit -- merit and excellence and encourage creativity, the translation and international understanding was founded to promote translation and honor translators and acknowledge their role and strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between arab islamic and world cultures. ♪ anchor: you are watching "al

jazeera." a reminder of our top stories. more than 80 people including children, have been killed in two airstrikes in yemen. the united nations has condemned the latest act by the saudi led coalition and has called on all sides to begin dialogue. the u.s. and russia have held what they say are frank talks as they try to resolve their standoff over ukraine. a russian troop build up near the ukrainian border has fueled weeks of tension and raised fears of the conflict. unstick a closer look at that story and moscow's demand. it wants nato troops out of romania and bulgaria, and is seeking guarantees that the alliance will not add new members, namely ukraine and georgia. russia also wants assurances that the u.s. will not build new military bases and former soviet states. nato has rejected these demands and says it is up to sovereign states to determine their own security arrangements. despite their differences, the u.s. and russia say they are open to further dialogue as our

correspondent reports from moscow. reporter:reporter: the russian foreign minister said there is a lot of hysteria that russia is not interested in invading ukraine. all of this talk is a false narrative that has been created by the western powers to give them an excuse to put more nato troops alongside the border with russia. and that is something this country cannot accept. he said they will wait to find out in a written proposal, in a written answer by the u.s. government next week where the u.s. stands on what the russians are asking for. and they will decide how to proceed from that point forward. he said it is not out of the question to continue the dialogue, and it was noteworthy to hear the u.s. secretary of state saying these are not negotiations, they are just discussions. i think it is important to highlight that. each side, they are very much entrenched in their demands. that is not likely to change. what is now clear is that

dialogue and diplomacy is not dead. both sides are eager to continue -- continue dialogue about the differences they have when it comes to the looming crisis. not just ukraine, but also nato and its role in this part of the world. russian foreign minister said they will study carefully their written answer from the u.s. and decide how to proceed. for their part, this is what they wanted to hear, that they will get a written response and they have now got a timeframe for that from the u.s. government next week and they will decide how to proceed from that point on. anchor: rescue teams in rescue gano searching the site of a huge explosion that killed at least 13 people. dozens were injured in the blast in the western town. nadim baba has the details. reporter: this crater hints at the size of the explosion in western ghana. the blast happened thursday when a truck collided with a motorbike. the truck was carrying explosives to a goldmine.

the result was shocking by eyewitnesses. [explosion] reporter: dozens of homes were destroyed in this village. 300 kilometers west of the capital. on friday morning, ghana's vice president visited a shelter as food aid started to arrive. he assured the community his government would help them recover and rebuild. >> the government is going to be responsible, fully, for all of the medical aids and everything else. reporter: the ghanaian government said it is investigating the explosion. . eyewitnesses say after the collision, the truck driver jumped out of the vehicle and shouted at people to stay away. a police spokesperson has said the truck did have a police export -- escort who helped alert people. with so many people dead, ghanaians wondering how this

could have happened. anchor: in northwest syria, france -- heavy rain and snow has damaged cams for displaced people. it has left many families struggling to find shelter or stay warm. the u.s. has warned of flooding when the snow starts to melt. millions of people are displaced within syria because of the civil war. al jazeera's correspondent has more from a village in the northern countryside. reporter: the camps residents have been trying for the last three days to remove snow from their tents into repair these tents that were damaged because of the bad weather. amid fears of more snow to fall in the coming days. the camp's residents fear the worst, and they have been suffering enormously over the past few days.

as you can see, this tent and many others have been damaged. >> we had three rough days. our tents have been damaged and are suffering continues. we have not received any help yet. >> they said the volume of assistance is not enough to meet the needs of the residents because of the bad situations, suffering the humanitarian crisis in the area. they fear the worst will happen because of the current weather situation and miserable conditions. the tents cannot provide the residents with the minimal safety they need. anchor: at least 11 migrants and refugees have drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of tunisia. the group was attempting to cross the mediterranean to reach europe. 21 people were rescued by coast guards according to a spokesman for the tunisian army. to the u.s. now where

antiabortion activists are in washington, d.c. for the annual march 2 life rally. the gathering marks the anniversary of a landmark supreme court ruling in 1973 that legalized abortion. thousands are marching to the court as it considers two state bands limiting access to abortions. if the justices oppose those laws, the historic ruling from five? it -- five decades ago will be overturned. reporter: it is the roe v. wade court decision, which gave access to abortions to american women, and these marchers are adamant that that access and immediately. these are antiabortion activists and they represent a minority of americans. only one in five say all abortions should end in this country. but they are a vocal minority, and they believe right now, they have the wind behind their sales. that is because last year in conservative states, more than 100 new restrictions on

abortions took effect in just yesterday, the u.s. supreme court declined to immediately and a ban on abortions after six weeks in the state of texas. the big court case still pending before the u.s. supreme court is a case on whether roe v. wade should be overturned altogether. in other words, whether or not to remove the right to abortion in america. these activists belief that with the conservative leaning on the u.s. supreme court, thanks to the three new justices appointed by former president donald trump, they feel this is the moment where they will prevail in order to end abortions in the u.s. anchor: let's speak to joe point man about this, the executive director of the texas alliance for live and antiabortion organizations. he is joining us from austin in texas. the annual march is in his 49th year as we have heard. many antiabortion activists are

hopeful that this year will be the year the u.s. supreme court will finally overturn roe v. wade. are you as optimistic and why? >> i have been involved in this movement for 37 years. my hopes have been dashed many times. but i have never been this optimistic. it feels different. we think we have the votes on the supreme court to perhaps modify or maybe even overturn the terrible row versus raid -- roe v. wade precedent. it would perhaps allow abortion to continue or protect unborn babies from abortion, even beginning at conception. anchor: a recent poll found 69% of americans want roe v. wade to stay in place. 69% of americans want this decision to stay. >> part of it is we want people to know that there are compassionate alternatives to abortion. in my home state in texas, the legislature passed laws that protect unborn babies, beginning at conception, if rowe is

overturned. they appropriated $100 million for a highly successful alternatives to abortion programs. it serves women with unplanned pregnancies and continues to serve them for three years after the birth of the child. texas and many states are doing much to protect the unborn child and help women with unplanned pregnancies. anchor: studies have shown the reversal of the decision will affect poor women, women of color, and those who are already mothers. >> that is why we have public services. our medicaid program pays for more than half of all in texas. we are prepared to take on more. women's health services, including contraceptives, already pays for women, up to twice the poverty level, and are serving hundreds of thousands of women every year. the alternatives to the abortion program will serve 150,000 women every year. that compares to the 54,000 abortions that currently take place in texas. anchor: has this not become a politicalanchor: issue?

the partisan divide over abortion has become wider. more democrats and fewer republicans say abortion should be legal. >> we do regret that fewer and fewer democrats, elected officials, are supporting the pro-life position. here in texas and many states, the public are with them. we will see what happens at the 2022 elections. we think those republicans and democrats who have voted pro-life will be rewarded at the polls. anchor: even if the court decides to overturn roe, it will be up to states to decide, right? this could create a patchwork of different laws across the country. is that something you agree with? >> that is the way the constitution works. i would be happy if there was a federal law that protected unborn babies. . we will not see that anytime soon. but we will do what we can in texas and those states.

we think there is about 15 states that would protect unborn babies if the supreme court allowed them to. we have to educate the public about the alternatives to abortion, about the humanity of the unborn child, and why this is the best policy for the country. anchor: thank you for joining us and sharing your views with us. executive director of the texas alliance for life, thank you for your time. >> thank you. anchor: popper root is tackling a large oil spill on its coast. freak waves caused by the eruption struck an oil tanker as it was unloading its cargo, sending 6000 barrels of oil tumbling into the seat. an area the size of 270 football fields has been affected, including beaches and natural researchers. energy giant chevron and tou thao energies have withdrawn from a major gas project in myanmar citing the worst humanitarian situation following last year's coup.

they welcomed the decisions. the energy sector has been the army's biggest source of foreign income. human rights watch says the military's crackdown on dissent amounts to crimes against humanity. much more news out always on our website at aljazeera.com. ♪ anchor: hello again. i have the headlines on "al jazeera." more than 80 people including children have been killed in two airstrikes in yemen. the u.s. has condemned the latest act by the saudi led coalition and has called on all sides in the conflict to begin dialogue. >> any bombardment that target civilians or that is not careful enough to protect civilians is of course also unacceptable.

what we need is to stop this vicious cycle, when things escalate one after the other. what we need is to have, as we have been proposing from long ago, a cease-fire together with the opening of the harbor and airports, and the beginning of a serious dialogue among the parties. these escalations need to stop. anchor: the u.s. and russia have held frank talks as they try to resolve their standoff over ukraine. moscow is sticking to demands that nato should not let ukraine join the alliance. that has been rejected by the u.s. and its european allies. then a explosion in western ghana has killed 13 people and reduced a mining town to rubble. it happened when a truck carrying explosives collided with a motorbike. at least 11 migrants and refugees have drowned in a

shipwreck off the coast of tunisia the group was trying to pause the -- across the meadow terrien -- across the mediterranean. heavy rain and snow have a damaged 70 tenths for displaced people. almost 3000 tends has been affected, leaving many families struggling to find shelter. the u.n. has warned of flooding when the snow starts to melt. millions of people are displaced within syria because of the civil war. antiabortion activists are in washington mark -- marching to see the anniversary. thousands are marching to the supreme court as it considers two state bands limiting access to the procedure. those are the headlines on "al jazeera." i will be back with more news after studio be unscripted. do stay with us. >> february on "al jazeera." >> china hosts the winter olympics. will diplomatic boycotts and the coronavirus overshadow the event? >> rigorous debate and

unflinching questions. upfront cuts through the headlines to challenge conventional wisdom. >> al jazeera keeps you up-to-date as nations tackle the omicron variant amid continued vaccine inequality. >> one east investigates how brexit, the pandemic, and changing paces are causing the great british curry crisis. >> the african union holds its session, the first whsrael as an observer state, with several nations campaigning against israel status and pressing issues across the continent. there is much to discuss. >> february on al jazeera. ♪ >> why are journalists under attack? because democracy is under attack. because you attacked the truth tellers. because the integrity of facts is gone. >> when i started seeing videos of people so angry with things that were frankly untrue, and i realized i was working for

something that was evil, and i have been part of creating it. >> one mark zuckerberg essentially said it is ok for politicians to light, that spells doom. >> my name is mary essa. i am a journalist and author. >> the message the government is sending is very clear. be silent, or you are next. >> i've -- i have received thousands of death threats online. >> i am christopher wiley. i am a data scientist. most know me as cambridge analytic of law. facebook knew about cambridge analytic a schemes since 2015. facebook threatened to sue the guardian and band me for whistleblowing. i revealed how our data is being manipulated for political gain without our consent. >> since -- i have been

repeatedly charged and arrested. >> it makes you feel vulnerable>>. but i think that is the point. >> i'm inspired by how maria continues to stand up for the truth in the face of real danger. >> the revelations led to the largest data crime investigation in history. >> if we allow cheating in our democratic process and we allow this amount, what about next time? what about the time after that? >> we know when social media is weaponized. >> can the danger it poses to our democracies around the world. >> this is an existential moment. >> and it is time for us all to act. ♪ [applause]

>> it is so good to talk to you. you figured out and you created a system, you taught yourself how to code, you learned the data. and then you built this whole system that was very efficient at modifying behavior. and then you decided to take it down. when did you decide it was wrong? >> when i first joined the company that later became cambridge analytica. i joined a company that was working on projects geared toward a counter extremism and counter radicalization. looking at how extremism spreads online and we got discovered by a guy by the name of steve bannon, who come a long story short, got a billionaire to acquire the company. what i saw was that i had worked on a system that got essentially

inverted to radicalize. -- radicalize young men in the united states. and that witnessing the inception of an insurgency. when i started seeing videos of people and focus groups who were so angry with things that were frankly untrue, now i realized i was working for something that was evil. and i had been part of creating it. and i could not keep doing that. >> it is interesting when you said you were looking at it for counter rado look at -- counter radicalization. i came to it because i was looking at how social network analysis spread the ideology of terrorism. we created it because if you can convince people to blow themselves up with this radical ideology -- >> you have something powerful. >> for good, right? that is why we created rapplr.

when you started seeing the negative parts, it is hard to pull yourself out and to be a whistleblower. what gave you the courage to do that? >> for me, growing up, kind of as an outsider, i was partly in a wheelchair when i was growing up because of an invisible disability, and on top of that, being queer, i came out as a whistleblower but i've been coming out for my entire life. for me, it is the sense of otherness and comfortable with being uncomfortable. that i think gave me a little bit of a nudge, to help me become a whistleblower. but with setting up rappler and being on the outside, i think you are going out there every single day, pissing off a lot of people. maria: i try not to. [laughter] >> do you find your life journey influences that? maria: gosh. i was born in the philippines.

then moved to the united states when martial law was declared in 1972. but when i was with americans, i never felt completely american. and when i am with filipinos, i don't feel completely filipino either. i guess it is the otherness part of it. and that is a good training for journalism. >> for whistleblowing. maria: for whistleblowing. >> do you find there is an overlap? not that i would ever call myself a journalist, but in some sense -- maria: similar. >> there is something similar about shoving uncomfortable information into people's faces in going, you have to pay attention to this, and then feeling the consequences of that. maria: i was going to say, that is the mission of journalism. you speak truth to power, and you will no power does not like that. in your end, i think you have been speaking truth. there is a cost to yourself, but

you also seem to learn something more from each instance you have done that. has this been a good experience or a bad experience? >> it is a mixed bag. i think it has been on the whole, a good experience -- i've learned a lot. after watching 2016 happen, and knowing so many things about what was going on, i learned that i do feel compelled to speak uncomfortable truths. at the same time, getting called to testify at congress as a 20 something boy living in london, it is not something that you expect to be part of your life journey. that was pretty intimidating. . it is pretty intimidating to have the department of justice and fbi sitting behind me and giving me a subpoena after that.

i think on the whole, it has been a good experience. if you think back, before 2018, the idea that privacy or data protection, the internet, would be a mainstream political issue in the 2020 election and the primary race would kind of be laughable. i think at least in that sense, exposing wrongdoing and exposing the structures that facilitate and support that wrongdoing with a company like facebook have at least opened up an awareness into a conversation that our mainstream political discourse that is productive. maria: how easy is it to manipulate mass on a mass scale? >> i get frustrated by the current discussion about election manipulation -- election manipulation. britain and the united states, and i'm sure coming from the

philippines, you know this full well, have been manipulating elections and democracies around the world for hundreds of years. maria: empire and colonizer. >> the reason why the national drink and britain is t and the national animal is a lion, these are not natural things here. [laughter] i think the reason why people are so upset in the united states or britain or other parts of europe is an american voter understands what it feels like to be an african voter. living in a country where you have got a gradually eroding information system where lies are everywhere, where you don't know what to trust, you have foreign countries left, right, and center trying to trick you and deceive you. and corruption rife in the administration. looking at developing -- the philippines, it is something i would be interested from hearing from you.

where you had a large country dictating the terms of how government works, to becoming independent, and now, having a large american corporation, run by a bunch of straight white dudes in america, starting to influence what information is allowed or not allowed to exist, or what gets amplified and promoted, or what does not in the philippines. do you feel like there is a neocolonialism happening online? >> you are the first person i heard say colonialism never died, and just moved online. i think we talked about facebook as a first level, which i mean frankly, the collapse that -- the collapse, the erosion of our institutions again on facebook. the description of the philippines, stanley karn low

wrote and described the philippines as a country that spent 450 years in a convent in hollywood. we were colonized by spain and then the united states. and i think it is ironic that the country that gave democracy is also the place where silicon valley then has given someone like bolsonaro, these types of authoritarian leaders who are killing democracy, the power to manipulate people. but i think we all now that our country bears the brunt of all the tech decisions that have been made. how do we get power? we have never really had a seat at the table in these things. and we bear the worst. >> do you think you should get a seat at the table? maria: sure. part of the reason i can speak about it is because i can articulate it in a way that the west can understand. >> you currently are challenging

and allegedly and arguably corrupt regime. what does it mean for you to say, give us a seat at the table? do you give a corrupt regime a seat at the table to talk about -- maria: no. i think one of the things that time shows us is how human behavior is universal regardless of culture. the very same things that manipulate americans and europeans are the same things that manipulate us. we just don't have the institutions to fight back. look how weak your institutions have gotten here. behavioral modification system. how do we fix it? i have been a journalist -- this is almost 35 years. it has never been as hard to work as a journalist as it is today. i have to post bail eight times. my government filed 11 cases and

invested 11 cases and investigations that year, and began arresting me in 2019. the first arrest was valentines. >> happy valentines. maria: and my government seems to work very well in february. this february, they have gone and filed a similar case against the largest broadcaster in the philippines. >> what would you say to your critics in the philippines about the charges that the government has lodged against you? did you break the law? maria: oh my lordy. [laughter] no! i am challenging power. we continue to do our jobs and we will continue. the line i always use is we are going to hold the line. the philippine constitution like the united states constitution has a bill of rights. let me ask you this, what did

cambridge analytical do in the philippines? >> the company -- the company operated in many places around the philippines. that is something i learned spending time there, that it is really profitable to go and corrupt governments. governments have really monetize of all assets. you have sovereignties, something that is really hard for a company to replicate. with that, you can dictate mineral rights, resource riots, passports, all kinds of things. in the philippines, they had an office there. the story of the philippines, you guys got trumped before everybody else. [laughter] maria: ok. yes. >> you are facing prison, and quite serious charges. maria: at least 80 years. >> why do you care so much?

wouldn't it be easier to go somewhere else? maria: i mean, i could toss the same question at you, while you became a whistleblower. . because this is the time that matters. because if i did not stand up for the standards and ethics, the mission of journalism, when it matters, than everything else i did beforehand does not matter. then i am not who i am, defining who you are. i hate this time period. i hate that the baton was passed to me now. but that is why it matters. how do we get civic engagement when people don't know the facts? >> i don't think we can. it is like what we are doing right now. we are sitting on a stage, having a discussion. there is an audience. . they know we are talking. if i say something that is not true or somebody can call us out, what we have now is a situation where i can become

invisible. and i can go and whisper into everybody's ear. and they all hear something different. and i can do that now with the benefit of having followed everybody in the audience around for years and years, reading through their text messages, listening to their phones, looking at everything that they look at, even when they don't realize they are being watched. and i don't think we can have a functioning democracy when there is no longer public discourse, because everything has become privatized. and often times, people don't even know if they are receiving something that is charted at them or not. maria: which goes back to if you get rid of transparency, you get rid of accountability, you get rid of democracy. we can take questions from the audience. >> maria, julie pacetti from the international center for our -- for journalists. i have spent time with you and your news organization.

i know you have learned a lot about the result -- as a result of the orchestrated disinformation campaigns, the deliberated targeted -- targets of journalism. given we are talking about what christopher has referred to as porting of these problems from the global south to the west, can you tell us sitting here in london, what journalists in particular dealing with these problems now can do to prepare themselves? maria: oh, lord. i think this is an existential moment for democracy globally. journalism, the death of journalism, i won't say the death of journalists, but the death of journalism is only the first signal for the death of democracy. our dystopian present is your dystopian future if we don't do anything right now. and of course with elections coming up in the united states, it is a huge problem.

what are the danger signals? the fact that we don't know the facts. one. the fact that you don't know who to trust. because in the philippines, the first targets of attacks, and these are exponential attacks, i was getting an average of 90 hate messages per hour. in the philippines in 2016, our data showed that women were attacked at least 10 times more than men. so misogyny, sexism, the kind of sexualized gendered attacks on women, what is the end goal? you pound someone to silence so a whole narrative collapses. and then the voice with the loudest megaphone is amplified bottom. and then top down, our president, the attacks against me and rattler -- me and. we were attacked on facebook and

social media. after that, a year later, president duterte said the same exact thing, which is like, astroturf inc.. it lays the groundwork for what the government does. you are all living through something similar. it is just our institutions crumbled within six months. your institutions are a little bit stronger than ours. but human beings behave the same way. and the lack of trust is ushering in a whole new 1930's, 1940's. all of a sudden, we are looking at fascism. i guess this is why i'm so scared and want silicon valley, i want the west to have stronger institutions, to do something more about it. if we don't, instead of a year or two years of this, we are going to look at decades of fascism. >> my question to you, christopher, i am from kenya. you worked for cambridge

analytica in nairobi. over 70 people died, may be directly or indirectly related to the role of cambridge analytica. is it legal or moral for british or american farms to work in countries like that and take advantage of lack of regulations, and yet continue to operate? christopher: this is something that i found most shocking. when you have got a company in country a, let's say it is in denton. engaging in multiple firms and contractors each in their own jurisdiction, creating disinformation or hate propaganda that were it entirely in written, would be wholly illegal, and then disseminating that in another country, because you've got so many different players involved in so many

different components of wrongdoing, it is actually really difficult to figure out where technically did a crime occur? in tax law, we are just starting to create principles and rules that prevent people from hopping from one jurisdiction to another. with data and the internet, we are where tax law was in 1950, not realizing that the internet is global, that data is global, that disinformation can be global. we lack, not only the actual institutions to police, but we actually lack principles. until lawmakers start to understand how the internet works, i don't mean that sarcastically, in that it is actually global and we need to create principles that embrace that globalness, lots of wrongdoing can happen. >> maria, you have been

threatened and yet continued your fight. i'm originally from turkey. i've been living in this country for the last 20 years. in my country, many journalists are in jail now. and many others are afraid of writing, speaking. what do you say about journalism and fear? maria: we have never been as vulnerable as we are today. because power in countries like yours and mine has taken what the internet, what social media, what companies like cambridge analytic, and it is not only cambridge analytica, we now have filipino companies like cambridge analytica, they are the ones taking advantage of it. why is it that the bad guys are the ones who are taking these tools of manipulation and using them against us? for us, for someone like chandon

dark, he had to flee his country and he made the decision to do that for fear of his life. others are dying. we see this in every single report that comes out about journalism. why are journalists under attack? because democracy is under attack. because you attack the truth tellers. because the integrity of facts is gone. we are not agreeing on the facts and the internet, the way social media is set up, this one concept of growing it by having you choose friends of friends to grow has polarized our societies. . so we have far more polarized societies and then we have no understanding of what the facts are. and then you attack institutions and when you have someone like your leader and my leader, they become stronger in this environment. they hijack.

this is why democracy is dying. in our areas of influence, we need to protect the facts. if you don't have the facts, you cannot have integrity of elections. you cannot have integrity of markets. how can we have a working society if we don't have a public sphere where we agree on what the facts are? [applause] ♪ maria: we have always had the devil and the angel on our shoulders. the way the social media platforms have been formulated fans the devil in your ear. christopher: why is it that you are allowed to experiment on societies? and when real people get killed,

there are no actual consequences. maria: it is like they invited people to their house and they gave everyone guns and said, it is the wild wild west. christopher: dmr, where facebook's systems will be deliberately exploited to propagate hate messaging, ññó?rcrcrcwcwcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrc

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