11/07/22 11/07/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> knocking on the door and someone asks you, what about public safety? i want you to tell them, who do you believe truly cares about public safety, the parties have guns and more guns or the party of public education? the party of health care, the party of health care, the party of social services.

amy: with the midterms one day, away we will look at congressional candidate summer lee, a member of the democratic socialists of america. she faces two big challenges -- aipac, the american israel public affairs committee, is pouring money into the race to defeat her. plus, the name of her opponent is confusing voters. mike doyle. that is the same name as the district's popular current democratic congress member who is retiring. then we will look at some of the key initiatives on the ballot tuesday. five states have abortion-related ballot measures. pres. biden: democracy is on the ballot, along with the right to choose and the right to privacy. amy: and we will look at why civil rights groups are urging advertisers to boycott twitter after the world's richest man elon musk bought the platform. >> we have been woing with dozens o oerivil rhts grps aroun the cntry,

inging tm togher and working th advertirs to encouragthem to pau theird spenng on twter righ now. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. political candidates and their supporters made their final pitches on the campaign trail over the weekend, just days ahead of tuesday's midterms. in the pivotal state of pennsylvania, three u.s. presidents took to the stage saturday. in philadelphia, president biden and former president barack obama made a rare joint appearance to get out the vote for democratic u.s. senate candidate john fetterman and gubernatorial candidate josh shapiro. meanwhile, trump rallied with fetterman's opponent mehmet oz and republican gubernatorial candidate doug mastriano east of pittsburgh. democrats have zeroed in on threats to democracy and rising political violence. some 300 republican candidates

have denied or questioned the 2020 election. this is biden speaking sunday while campaigning with new york governor kathy hochul. pres. biden: we all know in our bones that our democracy is at risk. the latest polls a 76% of american people worry about maintaining our democracy. we know this is your generations moment to defend it, to preserve it, to choose it. amy: governor hochul's opponent republican congressmemr lee zeldin sought to help trump erturn h 2020 election loss. 'll have more on the midterms after headlines. early voters have already cast nearly 40 million ballots, breaking midterm elections. in pennsylvania, the naacp and other groups sued state election officials friday after pennsylvania's supreme court said mail-in ballots that don't have a written date on their

outer envelope should not be counted. in missouri, a judge has blocked a new law that seeks to restrict get-out-the-vote initiatives by local groups. the law would disproportionately affect democratic and black voters. in atlanta, georgia, voters in cobb county filed a lawsuit sunday after election officials failed to send out over 1000 requested mail ballots. the aclu and southern poverty law center are did mandate an extension to count those votes. the aclu also condemned a recent georgia law which shortened the period voters can request and return mail-in ballots. the u.n. high commissioner for human rights has addressed an open letter to elon musk, urging twitter's new owner to "ensure human rights are central to the management of twitter under your leadership." the top u.n. official also condemned musk's firing of twitter's human rights staff and most of its ethical ai team.

bloomberg is reporting twitter has asked some employees to return after it began mass layoffs on the firings included friday. teams that worked on combating election misinformation da ahead of crucial midterm elections. it is believed 3700 workers or have the workforce was fired. meanwhile, journalists and voting rights advocates are warning twitter's new subscription-model for verified accounts will make flood the platform with imposter accounts that could mislead the public. twitter will start charging $8 a month to have a blue checkmark added to accounts, allowing users to create twitter handles impersonating political figures or news sources. we'll have more on the latest developments at twitter later in the broadcast. in ukraine, officials are advisi residentsf the capil kyiv to ve a backu plan in case they need to leave the city due to complete loss of power and water as winter approaches. this is kyiv's mayor vitali klitschko.

>> our enees are doing everything to keep the city without heat, electricity, and water supply, and in general, they want as all to die. this is their test on how well we hold out depends on how will we prepare for different scenarios. amy: russian attacks have hit 40% of ukraine's power grid. the occupied city of kherson and surrounding areas, which have been bracing for a major battle, also recently lost power. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says russia will continue attacking critical infrastructu with iranian-made drones. over the weekend, tehran confirmed it provided drones to russia but that the sale happened months before the start of the invasion in february. "the wall street journal" is reporting national surity advisor jake sullivan has been holding undisclosed talks with top russian officials in an attempt to reduce the risk of nuclear war. over the weekend, chinese leader

xi jinping warned for the first time against the use of nuclear weapons amid rising tensions and . during talks with german chancellor olaf scholz in beijing, xi reportedly said that the international community should "jointly oppose the use or threats to use nuclear weapons." it's a rare rebuke of russia's posture for beijing. meanwhile, "the washington post" reports the biden administration has been privately encouraging ukraine to appear open to negotiations with moscow and to stop publicly rejecting peace talks. the move is not intended to lead to negotiations, but rather to avoid alienating other nations who fear a protracted war in ukraine. a new united nations report finds the past eight years are on track to be the hottest ever recorded. u.n. secretary general antónio guterres dubbed the report a chronicle of climate chaos outlining the effects of worsening heat waves, melting ice, and trential ras.

earlier today, he delivered opening remarks as the cop27 climate summit gets underway in sharm el-sheikh, egypt. >> the clock is ticking. we are in the fight of our lives and we are losing. greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. global temperatures keep rising. and our planet is fast approaching the tipping point that will make climate chaos irreversible. we are on the highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator. amy: on sunday, the egyptian foreign minister sameh shoukry said this year's talks will for the first time focus on how rich nations should compensate countries in the global south for the unfolding climate catastrophe. >> inclusion of this agenda reflects on the solidarity and empathy with the suffering of the victims of climate-induced

disasters. to this end, we all owe a debt of gratitude to activists and civil society organizations who have persistently demanded the space to demand -- discuss funding for loss and damage. amy: ahead of the talks, egyptian authorities arrested hundreds of activists in a broad crackdown on dissent. they also published guidelines limiting protests during cop27 to designated zones and will require 36 hours advance notice. on sunday, sanaa seif arrived in sharm el-sheikh to demand egyptian authorities release her brother alaa abd el-fattah, the egyptian-british political prisoner. he intensified his six-month hunger strike by forgoing water on the opening day of the climate summit. british prime minister rishi sunak has expressed support for alaa abd el-fattah. he vowed to raise the issue while he is at cop27. in a letter, the new british prime minister said securing his release was, "a priority for the

british government both as a human rights defender and as a british national." meanwhile, cybersecurity experts are warning some 25,000 cop27 attendees face a security risk from the summit's official smartphone app. the software requires that users share their location, photos and even emails, raising fears that egypt's authoritarian government will use the data to silence critics and spy on dissent. democracy now! will be broadcasting live from cop27 beginning on november 14 for the second week of the cop. in iran, demonstrators took to the streets of tehran and poured onto college campuses over the weekend as nationwide anti-government protests entered their seventh straight week despite a violent police crackdown on dissent. video published on social media shows protesters marching and chanting, "clerics get lost!" rights groups say at least 318

protesters and 38 members of iran's security forces have been killed during protests that erupted after the death of 22-year-old mahsa amini in the custody of iran's so-called morality police. 49 children are among the dead. on sunday, a large majority of lawmakers iran's parliament co-signed a letter declaring the protestersenemies ofod" and advocating for the death penalty for some of those arrested. in syria, at least nine people were killed and over two dozen others wounded after syrian warplanes bombed tent camps of displaced people near the western city of idlib. at least three children were reportedly among the dead. in italy, at least 250 asylum seekers on board humanitarian aid rescue ships are stranded off the coast of sicily after officials prohibited them from disembarking on italian soil sunday. only select asylum-seekers we

granted entry into italy. meanwhile, two other rescue vessels remain at sea with hundreds of asylum-seekers aboard with no port willing to grant them refuge. the two week old far right government of italian prime minister giorgia meloni has vowed to block foreign-run migrant rescue ships as part of a brutal crackdown on asylum seekers arriving from the mediterranean. this is the captain of the rescue boat humanity 1, run by the german ngo sos humanity, who has refused to depart the sicilian coast until everyone on board disembarks. >> i urge for a place of safety for all the people on board. it is not only the unaccompanied minors but all of the ople on board, for their safety. by law they have the right to embark for safety. amy: in tanzania, a commercial plane crashed into lake victoria sunday, killing 19 people. 26 people have been rescued. the jet belonged to the airline

precision air. local authorities blamed the crash on bad weather. here in the united states, iowa authorities are looking for 18-year-old pieper lewis, a sex trafficking survivor who escaped from the correctional center where she was serving her probation sentence. lewis was 15 when she killed her rapist, later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. a judge sentenced her to five years probation, but the teenager could now face two decades behind bars for violating the terms of her sentence. and officials from the centers for disease control said the united states is now in a flu epidemic, as recorded cases, hospitalizations, and deaths nearly doubled over the past week. there have been at least 730 flu-related deaths in the u.s. officials warn vaccination rates are decreasing, with adults having received 5 million fewer flu shots in 2022 compared to last year. government officials say they are prepared to deploy troops,

fema personnel, and ventilators as hospitals become overwhelmed with the tripledemic of flu, rsv, and covid-19. this comes as pfizer announced last week trials of their experimental rsv vaccine were around 80% effective in protecting young infants up to six months from severe illness when administered to pregnant people. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today is the final full day of campaigning before the midterm elections that will determine which party will control the house and the senate. we begin today's show looking at a number of progressives who could win congressional seats on tuesday. in texas, the former labor organizer and austin city councilmember greg casar is running in a district that stretches from san antonio to austin.

in illinois, democrat delia ramirez is running in the newly redrawn 3rd district house. she is a progressive state representative and the daughter of guatemalan immigrants. and in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, summer lee, a member of the democratic socialists of america, is running on the democratic ticket to replace the retiring longtime congressman democrat mike doyle. the race has confused many voters because lee's republican opponent has the same name as the democratic lawmaker who is retiring, mike doyle. and his latest ad doesn't say he is republican that says "a name you can trust." aipac, the american israel public affairs committee, has spent millions of dollars trying trying to defeat summer lee. the group's political action committee, the united democracy project, spent close to $3 million during the primary against lee and has now spent

over $680,000 during the general election on television ads and mailings to attack her. over the weekend, summer lee held a major rally in pittsburgh to get out the vote. >> knocking on the door and someone asks you, what about public safety? i don't you to tell them this. who do you believe cares about public safety, the party of guns and more guns or the party of public education? the party of health care? the party of into health care? the party of social services? the party of wraparound services? the party of public libraries? the parties of youth and health services? the party that knows if we actually care about public safety, then we need to care about the public, we need to care about the people? amy: speakers at the rally sunday for summer lee included senator bernie sanders. >> brothers and sisters, we have a corrupt political system which

is enabling billionaires to buy elections, and that is what sommer is up against right this moment. as we speak, you have a billionaire-funded super pac putting in over $1 million trying to defeat her. and we are seeing this all over this country with progressives come up and stand with working people, the big money interests try to defeat them. and i know, especially after this campaign, at the very top of summer's list ofto-do things will be all the turns. amy: to talk more about summer lee and other progressives running on tuesday, we are joined by waleed shahid. he is spokesperson for justice democrats which has endorsed summer lee. waleed is a form senior adviser for the campaigns of

jamaal bowman and alexandria ocasio-cortez. thank you so much for joining us. let's begin actually with the story of the name, all in a name. you have summer lee versus mike doyle who just announced again, held a news conference to say, basically, guys, as i told you last year, i am retiring and the man who is running on the republican line is not me. because reports were repeatedly that when voters were asked to they were voting for, whether or not they like summer lee, they would say i'm not going to abandon mike doyle. can yotalk about the significan? do you think the republicans chose him for his name? >> there's been a lot of whispers in pittsburgh that mike doyle, replican mi doyle was chosen as republican nominee because it would be a deliberate confusion of voters. american election, and

recognition is the name of the game. we have familiarity with certain names, that really drives voters to choose to let that candidate. and the fact nowhere on most of his literature, on his campaign website, on his as does it mention mike doyle the current candidate is a republican. it seems there to liberally trying to misld voters to think he is -- deliberately trying to mislead voters to think he is democrat mike doyle. we have heard from voters on the ground that some of them regret they voted for a republican mike doyle when they thought they were voting for the democrat. we are doing whatever we can to get out the information, the right information that this is a republican who wants to cut your social security, attack a woman's right to choose, and do absolutely nothing about cost-of-living and inflation. 1 it is painful that mike doyle

is using the same name recognition strategy employed by eddie murphy's character, a con artist, and the 1992 film "the distinguished gentleman." but let's talk about more about what summer lee represents, why bernie sanders was in pittsburgh to rally with her yesterday. and also the significance of aipac, the role that is playing. while aipac has the word pac in it, for years it has not been a pac and a distance of contributing in this way, super pac, but now it has changed its strategy. talk about its significance. >> yeah, i think aipac has determined they are losing ground and -- with the democratic party, with the younger generation of democrats who what to be more evenhanded when it comes to the israeli-palestinian conflict, the positions aipac has usually

been around. aipac has decided this year after seeing the election, they were going to get involved in democratic primaries. and also facts from some republicans. they have endorsed over 100 republicans who voted to overturn the election of joe biden and then got involved in a significant number of democratic primaries in order to defeat justice democrats another progressives. in summer lee's race, they've spent millions of dollars to defeat her and elect candidates who voters are pretty unfamiliar with in pittsburgh. i think observers and analysts have said it really tracks the kind of way that groups like the nra went from a bipartisan group to a pretty extreme right-wing group over time once they started to lose ground with democrats and especially younger generation of democrats. i think aipac is headed in that

trajectory as well where they are no longer a bipartisan organization but mostly a right-wing organization that is increasingly going to be out of touch with democratic party values and democratic party politicians. we are seeing them a this major effort to recover extreme anti-palestinian sentiments within the democratic party, but i do think there losing a generatial battle here. amy: speaking of the democratic establishment, you have everyone from first lady jill biden to the pennsylvania given its real candidate josh shapiro coming out for summer leave. the significance of this and the impact she can have on the party? >> i think summer lee, she represents the occupy generation, the black lives matter generation. as millennial progressive black woman, she is going to take those social movements into office ande part of democratic

party coalition that includes -- some may disagree with her on some things. what aipac has done is put people like fetterman and shapiro and even barack obama in a place where they have to decide to either back a democrat who is running against republican or back aipac -interest candidate. as aipac makes those polarized choices for members of the democratic party who maybe more centrist or from the establishment, they're going to increasingly lose ground by presenting a stark choice like that. democrats recruited summer a year ago to run. people in pittsburgh know her. she got involved in politics and took on the local democratic party establishment and republicans. she flipped therump -- a seat trump won. that was the reason we backed her over a year ago. amy: in state legislature.

let me go to another comment of vermont senator bernie sanders who was stumping for her a little while ago as well. >> the other thing that would be funny if it were not so pathec is that these ads, paid for by aipac, are attacking summer because she is not a loyal enough democrat. what you should know is this organization is funding over 100 republican candidates -- [boos] >> so here you have a super pacs think she is not a loyal democrat while they are endorsing over 100 republicans, including many who even refused to acknowledge that joe biden won the election. amy: that is bernie sanders.

i want to expand this to other justice democrats like greg in austin as well as maxwell frost. could he talk about that? i think these are candidates who represent the future of the democratic party and as this generation comes into political age, they will electore candidates who think i look like them. i think the future of the democratic already looks a lot more like greg casar and summer lee people like alexandria ocasio-cortez and joe biden and nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. those candidates you just mentioned had very competitive primaries where they beat back special interest groups on a super pacs, and i think will expand the ranks of the progressive caucus in washington and also expand the ranks of the squad and order to hold the democratic party accountable to voters and deliver results for

working-class communities. amy: there is interesting piece. do you see this happening? >> yeah, i think in 2018 when ayanna pressley and alexandria ocasio-cortez wn their primaries, we saw they were able to use their platforms to advocate for things like canceling student debt and agree new deal. when these new members entered congre, i think we will continue to see these progressives expand the horizon on issues that working-class communities care about and bring that to the democratic party establishment and leadership in a way that have a dramatic effect in the same way the green new deal, parts of it made it into the reduction -- inflation reduction act, the way the squad's advocacy for canceling education debt. some of that made it into biden 's executive order in which he

canceled $10,000 to $20,000 of student debt. i think greg casar and summer lee, if they win, will really bring these ideas from communities into the party. amy: overall, do you think the democrats have succeeded or failed? i guess we will know much more in the coming days. in their message? if you are in charge, how would you have crafted it? what do you think is most important for people to understand in this country in the choices they are making? >> well, first of all, i think this imporfor people to vonteer and vote and donate for democrats heading into the election day tomorrow. but i also want to set reasonable expectations why do not think the democratic party leadership and the campaigns -- the campaign apparatus in washington has effectively waged message democrats are the party of the working class and republicans are not.

the number one concern for voters is inflation. the cost of living. i think democrats were caught flat-footed in a way they only started really hammering or talking about the issue two or three weeks ago was the up until that point, a lot of democrats were kind of saying, you know, is a global phenomenon, there's nothing we can do about it. which i think does not land well. i would like to have seen the democratic party enter a message that connected the fight for democracy to inflation and pocketbook issues, something like the recent republicans what to weaken an assault our democracy is because they want to hand over power and wealth to the big corporate donors and big pharma and big oil so they can continue to? prices as high as they want. all this stuff we hear right before the election about how there are caravans coming across the border, teachers are

brainwashing kids into being lgbtq, black lives matter -- all of this is a distraction to scare voters, turn americans against each other so we are distracted and we don't see republicans picking our pockets and giving more power to the corporate donors who just want to jack up prices. it was unfortunate joe biden makethat casf a demracy speech, wch i mtly agreed withbut ihink docracyoes noput food on the tab, necessarily. or voters don't understand how it has. i think democrats need to paint the picture of with a weakened democracy, our number one tool told corporate accountable, much as our government, it is severely weakened and democrats want to use the power of government to lower prices and give more power to working-class people. amy: waleed shahid, thank you for being with us, spokesperson for justice democrats. next up, not only people voters are voting for, there are many

key initiatives on the ballot tuesday. five states have abortion-related ballot measures. there are also ballot measures on how we vote on gun control, on marijuana. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "dancing and fire" by low. drummer and vocalist mimi parker passed away this weekend at the age of 55 from ovarian cancer. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. tune in tuesday, november a bang, for our three-hour election night special. we will be broadcasting live starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern. visit democracynow.org for details. and to watch. voters in five states will be deciding ballot initiatives tuesday in kentucky voters having as to amend the states constitutional to declare there is no constitutional right to abortion in the staples of reproductive rights activist urging voters to vote no on amendment 2. michigan voters will decide on a proposed amendment to add the right to reproductive freedom to the states constitution.

voters in vermont and california also will be voting. we will talk more about these ballot initiatives and more, joined by chris melody fields figueredo, the executive director of the ballot initiative strategy center. let's start with abortion and we will move on to gun control, voting rights, etc. what is going on and where are these ballot initiatives being voted on? >> thank you for having me on the show. abortion is absolutely on the ballot. you already mentioned michigan, reproductive freedom for proposal 3. in trying the right to an abortion in the state constitution. it also looks at pre-and postnatal care. the right to contraceptive. we have vermont that is protecting guaranteeing the right to an abortion in the state constitution. california as well. in kentucky, proposal similar to

what we saw in kansas that would ban abortion and in montana we have a proposal that would further criminalize and stigmatize abortion as well. abortion is on the ballot. i think one of the important things to remember going into tomorrow is what is happening in kansas. we can't make assumptions just because traditional conservative rights. kansas bucked that theory not only did that measure reject an abortion ban, a really transcendent party lines and was a higher vote-getter in the democratic and republican gubernatorial candidates. amy: can you talk about the recreational marijuana ballots around the country? the ballot initiatives? >> for years we have been seen through the ballot initiative process, first with the decriminalizing or necking

medical marijuana -- medical marijuana illegal and now we see a number of states in this election, we have arkansas, maryland, the dakotas, vote dakotas in missouri, looking at recreational marijuana. more than half the country now through the initiative process has approved some form of either medical or recreational marijuana, and that is before voters in five states on tuesday. amy: what about reg choice voting -- ranked choice voting? >> one of the biggest trends we are seeing this year is democracy itself on the ballot. states like nevada are looking at ranked choice voting. several cities across the country are looking at ranked choice voting. michigan is looking at promote the vote, which would allow for early voting, ensure military and overseas voters have --

ballots are counted was to guaranteeing audits. connecticut is also looking at early voting as well. then we also have -- amy: let me ask you something on ranked choice voting. i think a number of people do not understand what it is. it is one of the reasons i think that sarah palin lost in alaska because alaska has ranked choice voting. explain how it works. >> ranked choice voting is -- goes away from what we traditionally know. 51%, vote for one person and that is it. with ranked choice voting, voters have more choices. you literally will rank your top candidate, second candidate, third candidate, and so on. after those votes are counted, then it looks at the second candidate, who got the most votes.

it is a system that looks a lot more about the majority of the people who is popular for them and that person will win the election. amy: let me ask about slavery on the ballot in five states. explain, chris. >> it is 2020, yes, slavery is still in state constitutions and the u.s. constitution with the exception of slavery as a form of punishment. that is on the ballot in alabama, louisiana, tennessee, oregon, and vermont. why this issue is so important is this exception, if everyone remembers ever dugin a amazing documentary on what 13th" it has led to mass incarceration of black and brown communities, led to over criminalization of these communities and also had a huge impact on the prison labor

population and whether folks who are working in prison, whether they have the ability to get paid. amy: finally, other examples that you think are key that transcend party lines across this country. >> one of the biggest issues now since 2016 that has been really popular is raising the minimum wage. that has transcended party lines on the ballot in nevada, raising it to $15 an hour per hour. nevada raising it to $12 per hour. in d.c. where i live, we have the opportunity again to remove the subminimum wage for tip workers. other issues like in state tuition for undocumented students is on the ballot in arizona. gun safety is on the ballot in oregon. so many of these issues that we

know in our communities are incredibly important are on the ballot this year, and they often -- a transcend party lines. it is something we have been seeing for the last several years and when we believe now there is a direct attack on direct democracy itself to limit the will of the people and our ability to bring these issues before our communities and vote for them. amy: van "rabble" henshaw-plath -- chris melody fields figueredo, thank you for joining us the , executive director of the ballot initiative strategy center. tomorrow we will have our election night special starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern. you can check out all of the information at democracynow.org. next up, we look at why civil rights groups are urging to boycott reuter after the world's richest man elon musk bought twitter -- boycott twitter after the world's richest man elon

musk bought twitter and fired nearly half the staff. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "bleed for me" by the dead kennedys. longtime drummer d.h. peligro passed away at the end of after october a fall. he was 63. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. alarms are going over how the world's richest person elon musk is changing twitter after he spent $44 billion to buy the influential social media platform. on friday, musk fired nearly half of twitter's workforce in a mass layoff that gutted teams dedicated to combating election misinformation just days before tuesday's midterm election. in fact, he fired something like 3700 workers. those let go included twitter's civil integrity specialist kevin sullivan, who led editorial planning for the 2022 midterms and tweeted -- "he couldn't have waited till

wednesday? #election2022." hundreds of fired twitter employees special pieces could be deported. others who say twitter failed to give them adequate notice have filed a class-action lawsuit. the u.n. high commissioner urged musk. meanwhile, after announcing saturday it would start charging eight dollars a month for users to have a verification check mark on their profiles, twitter said he would move the lunch to november 9 after the election. it came after concerns new subscription model for verified accounts would allow users to create twitter handles impersonating political figures or new sources. some people actually impersonated musk over the weekend to prove their point. elon musk met last week with over half a dozen civil rights groups amid concerns he will let

misinformation and hate speech go unchecked. media matters, free press, and dozens more groups urged twitter's top advertisers to boycott the platform if proper safety standards are not imposed. in response, general motors, volkswagen, pfizer, and general mills have all paused advertising. for more, we are joined by people with two of the groups, nora benavidez is senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights at free press and free press action fund. lead author of the new report "empty promises: inside big tech's weak effort to fight hate and lies in 2022." she is joining us from the highly contested state of georgia, from atlanta. also with us is rashad robinson, president of color of change. let's begin with you. you met with elon musk. i assume this was a virtual meeting. can you talk about who was there and what you demanded and what he promised?

>> along with other leaders from the coalition that led the $7 billion boycott of facebook in the 20 20's, focused once again on the issue of discipline -- disinformation platform, we met with him and so it included folks like derrick johnson of the naacp, jessica gonzalez, the head of free press, leaders from the asian-american foundation, lulac. a mix of organizations and leaders. so we met with -- we came in with three very focused asks connected to the upcoming election. one was to not deplatformed in have the folks that had a deep

level do not to re-platform them, particularly before the election. to have a clear and transparent policy afterwards around how they were going to do it. the election integrity unit and infrastructure to the election -- and be more transparent and clear about this content moderation council we been talking about and to transparent about the policies of it and his level of power and who would serve on it. he agreed teach one of those demands on the call. surprisingly, basically, said he agreed with everything we said. we told mr. musk he had to say publicly -- if you're going to be able to say anything about this meeti that spoke to the fact he made the agreement. that 1:30 in the morning the next day, he tweeted out attacking the folks who were in

the meeting -- tagging the folks who are in the meeting, a green to these demands. it wasn't 24 hours later that he began -- we began to hear about the firings, about other policy changes. there is no way you can keep in place election integrity if you fire in the go the very people who are managing the election integrity work. the changes in policies which are deeply abrupt, which speak to i think the larger challenges we have with companies that are self regulated, and all the ways in which mr. musk has sort of engaged and behaved -- he is sort of a person who may be watched a broadway show or has a favorite sports team and has decided if they were in charge, if they owned that show or that team, this is how they would change things, this is who they

would put in a particular role or particular position. that is what we're dealing with right now, someone who does not have the knowledge or expertise to make these decisions. while that happens with a lot of companies, we are marching toward an election with a huge communication platform that has a deep role in how information is shared and moved. he will have deep consequences -- it will have deep consequences. the people let go who are responsible for some of the issues -- twitter wasn't good before. twitter wasn't doing everything that to before. cutting almost half the staff makes everything even more challenging. amy: now of course we hear that he is asking some of the people he fired to come back. nora benavidez, can you way and on this issue on the firings?

now fired staff have filed a class-action lawsuit. also the fact and one of his first acts as owner of twitter, he tweeted out conspiracy theories attacking paul pelosi who had been attacked with a hammer in his home and was and intensive care, citing the website that have promoted that hillary clinton died in the 9/11 attacks and shed a body double running for president in 2016. musk posted the article in response to a tweet by hillary clinton and then deleted it. the significance of all of this? and what control does civil society have over a private corporation like this? >> you know, i think we have to look at the very long track record that musk has as an

erratic ceo. he has taken extreme actions when he dislikes people say, whether that is on tesla phone calls, when he rallies his base on twitter to respond to critics. he has a long trail of ways he is unable to actually be present and make thoughtful decisions as a leader. the newest actions in wanting and then not wanting and coming back and trying to buy twitter all indicate he is at best erratic. what we have seen over the last week since he actually took twitter private has been very disturbing. i would absolutely agree with rishaad twitter was not good before. twitter was a toxic environment even before musk. that is part of what we look at in our empty promises report, trying to identify how is twitter, how are major platforms performing ahead of the midterms? what we found was that twitter is in the bottom half a major platforms in protecting users.

this is the most basic protections twitter has already failed to provide users. since musk came on, his first move was to let go of some of the most senior executives -- the head of safety, other ceos, has taken actions that himself as you say to post cash and i think be a super-spreader of conspiracy theory. when the assassination attempt on nancy pelosi occurred, he was so fast to goad followers and others on the platform with citations to misleading information. he is not an everyday person. he has a massive following. to see someone like that was such notability and any people who feel he has credibility be a super-spreader of misinformation and conspiracy is deeply troubling. then we saw him lay off almost 50% of his staff last week. he did so with no fanfare, quite a bit of laxity goal moving

forward -- lexa days ago moving forward of twitter he wanted to usher in an and letting these teams go, i want to be clear who are the people he let go. he is let go teams that are part of human rights people, ethical ai, assess ability -- people healthy debate disability users more friendly on the platform, let go of communications teams, integrity, safety. the teams keep going. they have been completely gutted. at this point they are flailing and we are one day from midterms. i don't understand how someone is the new ceo can one breath say he has turned into election integrity, committed all of the things as rishaad said when he met with musk, and then turn around and take all of these actions. we really thought long and hard, how do we somehow catalogue accountability? how to take some form of action to take things?

what we have done across cousins cousins, we're now at over 60 organizations have come together with grassroots and corporate support. we are urging advertisers to halt their spending on twitter. it is with the impetus we need a moral imperative here. we're hopeful is advertisers begin to see their brands are damaged when they occur and are seen next to troubling hate, toxic content, misleading information. what we've seen now is -- advertisers that are pulling their ad spending from twitter. whether it is general mills, general motors, pfizer, audi, l'oreal most of their many others now that have followed suit. they are sort of a domino effect. we not only have our corporate

pressure but there is that grassroots swell of support to say this is a place that while toxic before has become only more toxic since musk took over and something has to change. amy: on saturday, that me say one thing. you have these workers, hundreds of them, who now fear deportation because they have lost their jobs. on saturday, former twitter ceo jeff dorsey apologized for the layoffs in a series of tweets and wrote -- "i on the responsibility for why everyone is in the situation. i grew the company size too quickly. i apologize." >> required to help them was at the same time, ensuring as many peoples possible can participate.

in order to do so, we need t make policy so people feel safe and feel free to express themselves, to minimize threats of abuse of harassment, of misleading information, of organized campaigns or influence a particular conversation. that policy creation enforcement is challenging, but also it is more or less opaque to the public. that is where i think we have a gap. we have transparency around our policies. we do not have transparency around how we operate content moderation, the rationale behind it, the reasoning. amy: there's a bigger question here, nora benavidez, should these corporations be regulating themselves? this is the current townsquare for everyone. >> these companies are so large

and, frankly, so unchecked in the power they bring. one of the reasons we have been trying to gather civil and human rights and other civil society groups together is to demand better of these companies. less to themselves, we've seen they simply don't care. there's a very long track record of inaction. and sometimes even a refusal to acknowledge the role these companies play in fomenting violence and a the real world. we went to the very brink on january 6 last year. our democracy barely held on. as we have already spoken about with the assassination attempt on nancy pelosi, we know the perpetrator of that also was incited and inspired by rhetoric online. there's a very real and porous relationship between the online world and this off-line real world. and yet these companies over and over again will turn their back,

whether that is in testimony before congress, whether in their own varied landed statement about what they're doing with the elections this year. they often act as if they're doing and off. and in doing enough, they're eager to protect democracy, to protect users. what we have found is it is quite the opposite. these companies are failing to do even the most basic things for people. they are failing to make sure their own backend systems and machine learning are not amplifying the worst content. we know that our black boxes so opaque that there transparency efforts are really the most meager steps toward some kind of lip service. so we look at what is now the days ahead, both tomorrow's midterms and the kind of rhetoric that we know will follow in the days after tomorrow. we know we are going to see hate, conspiracy, lies continue to proliferate.

and yet these companies every election cycle kind of string together their election integrity efforts, saying they're doing enough and yet we often then find evidence later that not only did they not commit to doing certain things, but even their promises have been hollow. that is really why we have been trying to pursue a much wider initiative, building across sectors -- whether that is with our advertiser partners, with other human rights leaders and activists building what is a large movement here. amy: i want to go to the issue of advertisers. rashad robinson, musk tweeted -- "twitter is had a massive drop in revenue due to activist groups pressuring advertisers even though nothing is changed with content moderation we did every thing we could to appease the activists." rashad robinson, president of color of change, can you respond? >> musk actually met with some of the advertisers, met with

coalitions that represent the advertisers that have had a number of conversations over the last couple of weeks with advertisers, with ad agencies as well. musk is not done himself any services. these companies are looking at what they want to put their brand. they're looking at the stability of elon musk and the company. they were given some of the same promises as activists were given around content moderation, around election cycle, about making sure their ads are not placed up against white nationalists or disinformation. musk has not made good on the promises he made to them. while we have been pressuring and pushing, i've never had such an experience -- and i've run a lot of these campaigns -- were advertisers are very clear that they are not getting what they need and we don't have to do the typo pushing.

i will say just to pick up a point nora was saying, self-regulating companies are unregulated companies. while we are doing this advertiser campaign, while we are pushing from the outside, the technology that has so mh potential to move us into the future is dragging us into the past. that is not unfortunate like a car accident, that is unjust. it is manufactured through a set of choices that our government has made about how companies are regulated. make no mistake, our cars are not saved because of the benevolence of the auto industry. they are safe because of the infrastructure and accountability that is around it, because there people that evaluate and hold accountable. right now whether it is the algorithms that are not transparent, whether it is the business models, whether it is these companies getting to decide what the standard is in terms of moderation come in terms of kind ability, whether it is the fact -- amy: 10 seconds. >> have a level of immunity to

liability. we need a new set of engagement from congress and the white house because we can't keep going to billionaires and begging them to protect our civil rights. amy: rashad robinson, president of color of change. nora benavidez, thank you for being with us. ço

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