i i. i. i. i. today unprecedented discrimination facebook suspends the pages of several highly successful news projects drawing the ire of the manager. also i heard. a senior french military officer be said to face punishment after he pens a damning critique of the u.s. led coalition campaign against islamic state in syria. and a new report from the u.k.'s house of lords suggests that weapons sales to saudi arabia killing significant numbers of yemeni civilians i'm a violate international humanitarian law all. believe in the retreat wouldn't have

anything to eat she's skin and bones that's the worst case of severe malnutrition. they get after in just turned at midday of this one day my name is kevin knowing this is out international so top story today the head of a media company behind several successful news projects has hit out at facebook of what he calls unprecedented censorship it's after the platform suspended a number of the firm's pages in a move that coincided with a c.n.n. report claiming math inc media was trying to hide its ties to the russian government and correspondent first. the problem is that on math physics pages you can see that some of its funding comes from the russian government and that it's partially oh and by and are subsidiary but first of all it all goes down

to understanding whether methinks management broke any facebook rules well there are no such rules on facebook that require mentioning some sort of links to our tea or russia however the social media told c.n.n. that right now it would start asking page administrators to disclose their russian affiliations but again up until now this wasn't a rule so this is absolutely unprecedented all our attempts to get in touch with facebook and get some sort of explanation have a lead to anything so far so all we can do for now is judged by what facebook was telling c.n.n. people connected with bridges shouldn't be misled to bot who's behind them just as if we've stepped up our enforcement of continuity to northampton behavior and financially motivated over the past year will continue improving so people can get

more information about the page a day from the team behind the blog pages told us that they had received no warnings about the looming punishment they hadn't received any messages giving them the right to appeal however the appeal has already been sent and by the way when it comes to the likes of you tube or twitter the pages are there and there are no issues that they'd have such as this company tried to do something to conceal its connections and all know they were never hiding anything of course it does say on their front page on line for instance money comes from russia but pretty much no one knows that and whenever someone gets employed by moffat they're always informed about the. and companies so that they're always aware of who they're working for and this company is officially registered in germany so pretty much anyone can go on the company's registry and find out all the relevant information on the founders

who's funding it the owners etc but in cnn's investigative report all of this is being portrayed as some sort of groundbreaking revelations but what people watching these videos may not realize is that the russian government is paying for this soap box wasted back then are three new facebook pages and all part of a growing brand of russian backed influence campaigns but kevin not everyone's that much impressed by the way c.n.n. was spinning this there's american comedian jimmy doer pages pushing the videos do not disclose they're backed by the russian government. ok all right i didn't know you had to put who funded you and when you put you put up a video i didn't know that because we have lots of different funders at this show we have over three thousand people who voted us through patriot and we have probably another couple thousand people through pay pal so we have a lot of people that fund our show do i have to name every one of the every time i

put up a video and it would have been steamed told us that whichever reason facebook might try to find for door and what they're doing they believe there's only one reason for their action would didn't violate any of facebook's policies whatsoever none of our content promotes disinformation or fake news yet c.n.n. and pressured facebook into unprecedented censorship in a desperate attempt to milk ratings by still going to histeria over russia you know has made a good headline and in the who when this first was at c.n.n. they're not really the first ones to bring this up or german outlets t. mobile and also the so-called alliance to secure democracy part of the german marshall fund which in turn gets its cash from u.s. and german governments did anyone say government funding a way pages by the likes of al-jazeera or deutsche welle they are up and running

even without these kind of tar government money german government money alerts in a potential you hoping to go live at some point in the next hour or two if not this . chief operations and marketing officer of media but we can hear the thoughts from the. far from happy i mean you know she's responding to the controversy by launching a blistering attack on c.n.n. accusing the shamelessly yet again washington's interest issues but earlier. syria which ignore us c.n.n. is once again acting as the right hand to even lead crotch of the state department nato and everything connected with them and facebook is doing the same c.n.n. doesn't even make a secret of the fact they did their so called investigation or to be more precise blackmail material on a direct hit from a foundation financed by nato and the state department c n n literally forced facebook to delete our accounts but facebook listen could have refused facebook is

so scared of been once again accused of helping the russians in the election interference and suppressing democracy in the u.s. that it immediately delete an account there have forty million subscribers and two point five billion viewers no complaints against the video itself and the content on the whole were made by facebook but when c.n.n. called here said how can you let those russians to it to our people these pictures deleted the account obviously the situation is going to get worse no one now is even trying to believe in any freedom we even talk about it it is an open geo political confrontation in which media space is loved by many and made into real to you so i don't know whether they were set up for this that's exactly what's happening now. is someone young editor in chief. requests a comment from a number of press freedom organizations as well when we hear about from them but their thoughts will bring it to us as opposed to george samuel a from the london

metropolitan university's global policy institute about the measures he told us facebook in his view is guilty of clear double standards. so anything that the russians have must be looked upon suspiciously but they can't say this explicitly and so they come up with these phony pretext such as oh they haven't disclosed that they're funded by russia what about direction velour what about the b.b.c. what about al-jazeera what about france one i mean all of these are getting funded by governments but it's the same thing applies when facebook every few weeks announces where they have closed seven hundred thousand accounts that they say are fake accounts because they are really russians or rain ians you know no one knows these things no one knows who or what these accounts are but it keeps the story going that the russians are the rainy and two. officially designated enemies

are up to no good the suspensions of also drawn sharp criticism from glenn greenwald the germans post known for his revelations about u.s. and u.k. surveillance programs he's accusing facebook c.n.n. and the marshall fund of selective censorship mike's blumenthal for real news media ship media told us that he believes the social media be more is increasingly working in concert with the u.s. government. well we know for a fact that this was done under government pressure but what's taken place is that a series of groups that appear to be private are taking the initial credit starting with c.n.n. the corporate media titan which conducted the investigation but it conducted this investigation at the urging. of a group that is actually funded by the us government last year my colleague jeff sprague at the grey zone project reported that one of the directors of the alliance

for securing democracy the neo conservative jamie fly was promising that there would be more facebook takedowns in the future after the last year's facebook purge and it appears that in the now is the next victim using c.n.n. to put the pressure on facebook so this has taken place under government pressure. well more reaction i promise you we go live sewage a race books chief of operations of marketing at moffitt media did go to the line oh hey how do you feel about the suspension of the page is far from happy i guess. sure i'm not happy about it all. justified oh no. it's absolutely not justified. ok what are your complaints about it what you think what you've been done wrong if you like. well in the now has nearly four million followers on facebook it's

a verified page we have been very very well known to facebook we have spent money boosting content through facebook for over two years so clearly the hysteria that's built up in the states around all things having anything to do with russia and especially at facebook i have the ties with facebook because they're in a tough position needing to respond quickly to getting kinds of these reports how. ever see and then really kind of lead them to panic and make a bad decision which which was to shut down pages with millions of fans that completely singles out russia as a government. when ignoring the fact that every state media operation from a to b b c two n.p.r. receives government funding and they need to come up with a policy that deals with everyone in a fair way whether it's singling out state funded media categorically and

making r t as well as b.b.c. a.b.c. c.n.n. and everyone else state the entire chain of their funding source it's on their facebook pages. you said you didn't know you'll be saying you were warned of this before they took the pages all would these rules you know anyway this was this was a complete reaction and a reactionary. move by facebook in response to see in leading them to believe that there was some kind of secret even done a wrong by not having that information on the page with the rules for how does a little he's not absolutely not ok no no no no no no first of all facebook should not tell us to do that if they're not going to tell everyone to do it but they haven't even gone as far as having any kind of policy articulated about it at all so we were. fully compliant with all facebook policies at all times

and there is no requirement whatsoever to display any type of funder information on facebook pages and it is common practice to not do so if you look at all of our peers in the industry from buzz feed to vice to now this now this is a great example now this is actually owned by a holding company called group not. i'm going to tell me that just because for all of you is that have watched this for a long time on the television side of it here and this is now i used to have a show on here called in the now just read truck in here trying to explain it that way no law in a wall this is now it's. this program and the offshoots is what's causing the problem in a nutshell. in the now is still a very successful digital channel and we launched math about seven months ago as

a holding company to manage that and to grow it and develop it as a commercial property and to create vertical channels that are offshoots of in the now as a parent chattel ok why do you think they didn't come. before taking you pages all faded thought you did a bit of warning surely. i don't know i have no idea what goes on in the minds of the people who have to take responsibility for decisions like that at facebook and i'm sure that whoever made the decision was just trying to play it very very safe based on the suspicions that were planted in their brains by c.n.n. how popular were these pages from media what what sort of how many clicks would you get. well in the now being the main flagship channel. i couldn't even speak to the number of clicks we've got and we we've done hundreds of we've done two and

a half billion views. you have to speak in millions and billions when you're talking about in the now. we launched waste as our first vertical along with a history channel called back then both ways that. that's an environmental kind of channel yeah. yeah that's right it's it's focused entirely on issues of sustainability and global warming raising awareness about how habits consumer habits can be changed to support a sustainable future so if for instance. from environmental channel somewhere had been written this is partly connected. to the russian government funny what difference with out of the view is the many many many view as you say you've got. that's hard to say i doubt it would have made much difference because very few of them would have ever paid attention or cared. it's again it's just not

common practice to list all of that information on facebook pages nobody does it was about all those that have been on the scene say well you keep in something secret the way the company was structured i gather it's all there it's it's open information the public want to go look for it jim you can say the company was made up no. yes absolutely all of the all of the company information the fact that roughly is the is the parent company etc etc that's all a matter of public record and c.n.n. was able to easily pull that for their story in germany so it's it's all information that is easily available and there is absolutely no secret to be found here yet now you're based in germany and c.n.n. report mentioned the u.s. foreign agents registration act county moffett's not registered do you expect that tough to change do you even have to anyway. from within america.

no no. it doesn't apply to us for various reasons we're not incorporated in the u.s. and we are not doing political advocacy in any way even if we were incorporated in the u.s. so. that's another aspect in which russian state media has been singled out for for specific scrutiny of course jerry spock's chief of operations and marketing at moffitt media let us know you get on and see what the outcome to this is over the next couple of days we get some more feedback maybe useable from facebook as well thanks a ton today we know you're a busy man. thanks a lot you have a good day. the story next a problem french military officer who helped coordinate the fight against islamic state in syria could be set to face punishment after published a devastating critique of the u.s. led coalition's anti terror tactics shiela do bensky reports all month today. damning criticism from a senior french military official this is the guy in charge of french artillery

aiding could forces on the syrian a rocky border he's criticized the u.s. coalition tactics saying that it's actually putting civilians at risk the battle of hygiene was won at least on the ground but by refusing ground in gage meant we unnecessarily prolonged the conflict and thus contributed to increasing the number of civilian casualties we have massively destroyed the infrastructure and given the population a disgusting image of what may be a western style liberation leaving behind the seeds of an imminent resurgence of a new adversary hundreds of people have died as thousands of forms have a rained down in those attacks alleged by the u.s. coalition and it comes this criticism as president trump is about to declare an outright victory against eisel in syria but the colonel doesn't think that's the case we have a no way won the war because we lack

a realistic and lasting policy and an adequate strategy how many how jews will it take to understand that we are on the wrong track colonel made those criticisms in the national defense review which has since taken down his article and it seems that the colonel is about to face sanctions for not getting permission to publish that article before his military forces it had a chance to look at it but his testimony adds weight to what we've already heard from groups such as amnesty international and for action against armed violence has talked about the high cost of civilian casualties in syria as a result of the u.s. led coalition's actions and the way that it operates in that country now that's despite the fact that the u.s. says it doesn't target norm coleman buttons the question is now as president trump is about to. declare this victory over i still it's a victory many are saying including this colonel at what cost at what cost to the

people of syria. a new report from the u.k.'s house of lords suggested the country's responsible for a significant number of civilian deaths in yemen as a result of its arms sales to saudi arabia the document says that britain should be prepared to suspend some of his weapons that exports as they might be in violation of international humanitarian law the government asserts that in its licensing of arms sales to saudi arabia it is narrowly on the right side of international humanitarian law we assess that it is narrowly on the wrong side it's almost four years since war erupted in yemen since twenty fifteen the u.k. sold four point seven billion dollars worth of weapons to saudi arabia as partners making it the second biggest supplier of arms to riyadh the british government continues to defend the sails saudi arabia for its part claims it takes all possible precautions in its fight against yemen's who the rebels who took power in twenty fifteen ousting the then president by force we spoke to

a political science professor in the us a told us he doesn't see the u.k. ending its dealings with riyadh anytime soon the. the u.k. . is not interested in how much destruction is actually being of either by british work and really given to saudi arabia from the british point of view they are not even conducting independent serious on where their weaponry is. for the bombings for the killing in yemen they were lying strictly on the facts and data provided to them by the current saudi arabian government british government most realize just what the united states go. maman songs war in yemen is not going to stop until both governments or weapons to this. be told the un is holding its yemen's humanitarian crisis is becoming increasingly

severe hundreds of thousands of people in that water or nation and are reportedly at risk of starving to death a staggering eighty percent of the population are in need of aid is one harrowing story from one yemeni girl a warning you may find what's coming up upsetting. management even the retreat wouldn't have anything to feed her. pallor she skin and that's the worst case of severe malnutrition.

child malnutrition. leases are increasing but only children under five mothers suffer from malnutrition and their babies will to. manage it and if only i can do is keep trying to care for her and that she will be starving again in the queue because in horrible conditions lives and. the u.s. is stepping up its efforts to get humanitarian aid into venezuela and the same tons of food and medical supplies to the crisis stricken countries border with colombia which could be the next hot spot to watch the shipment was accompanied by an american delegation which included the florida senator marco rubio he took the opportunity to hit out at the embattled venezuelan president nicholas mature. and a minimal enduros regime is not a government it is

a mafia it is an organized crime syndicate similar to the mafia is that existed in the forty's and fifty's in all parts of the world and the united states it's a mafia it is nothing like a government. this comes days after the country's washington backed opposition leader one quad though called for an army of volunteers to head to the border to receive the aid supplies but president there is consistently said he considers u.s. efforts to be interference in the country's domestic affairs he ordered the military to prepare for a permanent deployment of forces to the border with colombia to avoid what could be described as provocations as he put it and it was only madeira who's got doubts about the u.s. shipments the international committee of the red cross in colombia says it's got no plans to participate in any deliveries of assistance to venezuela which it claims are politically motivated the executive director of the wrong paul institute and a mcadams told us it's all part of a concerted u.s. effort to topple the government. well the international aid organizations have explicitly refused to participate in the u.s.

is quote unquote humanitarian aid convoy aid relief to venezuela because it's not a centrally what it is is a regime change operation disguised as aid and in fact that would be illegal according to international law the politicisation the use of the aid that dangling the food in front of people if they overthrow their government is an absolutely cynical move which is not allowed according to international law marco really at the border is designed to escalate he says he's forming a lie and you know that he's engaging in a psychological operation a covert operation in the nose that he's standing in front of the last bridge a saying the door stop close in this bridge that bridge as your viewers know has never been opened we were other elements to the story back in the u.s. the state department restricted the travel of the venezuelan ambassador to the u.n. it comes days after some millman card accuse the u.s. of blatantly attempting to orchestrate regime change in venezuela he's now been

banned from leaving new york some counter accuse the u.s. of lying and manipulating the facts to mislead people about the true situation in this country the venezuelan minister of foreign affairs has responded by calling the movement restrictions an attack on freedom of speech della mcadams again has got some thoughts on it. well they do this to countries that they want to talk to target for regime change or target for punishment i think they that it did for russian diplomats in washington d.c. if i remember right and they do this for other countries that are on the u.s. bad list it's just another attempt to marginalize the legitimate government representatives of venezuela this is the most this is the most you've got to hand it to this is the most transparent in overtly explained regime change in history. debates are upset in the u.k. over the possible return of a nineteen year old ice ill wife and british citizen shamima beggar miss spent four years in syria but knife's edge wants to return back to the u.k. to raise a newborn baby. i think

a lot of people here have likes and that it would be for everything i've been through you know. there i am that you know i was going to when i left. i just was hoping that maybe we could say between my child and eleven come back never did anything dangerous and he made public and i never encouraged to become serial well our proposal got a mixed reception back in britain the home secretary there strongly opposing the nineteen year old's return and says he'll do everything to prevent it from happening but the u.k.'s justice secretary taking a softer stance he says begum has the legal rights to return and the citizens cannot simply be made stateless we asked people in the london neighborhood where begum used to live what they thought about it should she come back should she be barred. the teachers ship it out for life and this year if any one of. the teachers. let me country suffering and the only. topic this is something that's really really serious and significant on

people who have children there it's that it's actually hard to be honest or followed on this is so they start shipping really none just to see the car like i says there's a real good. how would you feel if she was to move into your neighborhood or next door to. the wouldn't be the solutions to it's probably. going to come back some markets are part of history here big unless the u.k. in twenty fifteen along with two other teenage girls who she's fifteen at the time she said one of the friends later died when our hope was bombed we discussed the controversy with philip ingram he's a former military intelligence officer and just how much mood a former home office counterterrorism advisor. she's an individual who choose to leave the u.k. of rome free will swear allegiance to a full story it's a terrible musician i'm a terror organization wanted to destroy the very way of mice that she had run away

from and the terror organization has stated them has killed people in the u.k. she still remains loyal to you has condemned it she hasn't felt any remorse for what she's done so you have the british government's choices whether they put any effort in to bring your back and my personal views of them think they should have the real difficulties when she came back and she would be a burden on society i believe she should be allowed back because she was groomed as a child not as an adult she was brainwashed now is fully aware that the ashes are lined propaganda is remarkably powerful so we should show her some level of mercy in tendency and i think it would also be at about pages for us if she were to come back because we could perhaps unpick the influence that they were able to have on her and possibly divert orally of you know obstruct other people from going in the future then you must wait and of why we should that are back in the u.k.

if you can become stateless then on that basis she should be allowed back in safely we don't know of any crime she's actually committed i think we have the capability to ensure that she has fully integrated back to families not. that's why things look in so far that cities are up again with more in half an hour's time it's nice i can take thirty school time. but politicians do. put themselves on the line they don't accept it or reject it. so when you want to express what you. want to. get to the right person this is like.