facebook pages of several highly successful large projects without warning we find out what could be behind the move. and british lawmakers accuse facebook of failing to regulate political advertising and leading people. says the u.s. is keeping all options on the table. writes a damning critique of the u.s. led coalition. against syria.

are broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow. glad to have you with us. based media company has hit out at facebook accusing the platform of unprecedented censorship and that they suspended a number of media pages which produces online shows and which c.n.n. is accusing of a deliberate attempt to hide ties to russia one of those shows is in the now viewed over two and a half billion times on the social network a producer and a presenter at filmed this message for facebook. what i would say to you is i understand that you're under immense pressure from various forces to suppress this or that content based on political reasoning but do not succumb to censorship do

not succumb to complying with various government funded outlets regardless of what government they're funded by to censor let your users decide what's good and what's bad earlier my colleagues you know neal i believe we're trying to go discuss why mefford media is under such scrutiny. it began with c.n.n. shedding light on the fact that a number of media pages with posts of snappy videos have links to russia but what people watching these videos may not realize is that the russian government is paying for this soapbox wasted back then are three new facebook pages and all part of a growing brand of russian backed influence campaigns maffet runs for pages they are indeed very popular with billions of views as their creators are saying but it wasn't indicated on the pages themselves where their money came from and so just as

the c.n.n. came out with their bombshell report as they're calling it the magic steam noticed that their pages were being blocked even though there is no such rule that makes revealing the funding a must i've spoken to the magic c.e.o. and she told me what she believes could be behind this kind of unprecedented punishment by the social network there's a very sensitive divisive. noxious policy taking place right now in terms of venezuela we don't know if this is the segment that triggered it the timing is convenient when someone calls out what's happening in venezuela is a blatant coup it ruffles the wrong feathers ruffled the feathers of think tanks that's. and millions and millions if not billions of dollars to persuade. and to lobby their interests and so when someone does a video that goes against that and that videos gets hundreds of thousands of views

on a platform that has millions of views people start to notice and they get upset and i believe that's why we were targeted but it was the question is here how does my fake at any point attempted to hide information about its links about its shareholders even well let's just make it clear moffitt does get some of its funding from the russian government and it is partially owned by an r t subsidiary but they were never trying to hide this in fact when they employ someone they always tell them everything about the parent company so that people know who they work for and the company's officially registered in germany so anyone can check out the company registry there and find out all the necessary information where the owners the founders are the funding where it comes from it said well going back to what facebook did to my fake you'd expect the social network to come up with some

sort of warning before taking the pages down well none of this happened and here's what else we heard from someone else from management 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 c.n.n. we're the first ones to start digging into fakes links to russia germany's marshall fund got involved first which drew the attention of the likes of glenn greenwald the journalist was disturbed by what he called a trio that. could have been behind this kind of censorship so not bloggers and journalists were impressed by how facebook was dealing with the situation and by

how c.n.n. was spinning it the 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 patriotic we have probably another couple thousand people through pay pal so we have a lot of people that fund our show do have to name every one of them every time i put up a video so quite a few people in the online community and the journalist community have something to say about this however when it comes to facebook the math fix team hasn't heard from them yet even though they sent out numerous appeals the president of the international federation of journalists has described facebook's move as an act of censorship. of facebook account to any internet link from the media without warning could be considered does not have censorship that goes by the i have j e r d r t

contacted several press freedom organizations we're waiting to hear back from them while journalist martin summers believes facebook has overstepped its boundaries. censorship of by any of the name does but never any secret about these videos source all or who's putting you up there or why you need to do that you have the same rules for everybody all you basically pick and choose what you want people to see and hear how to think there is a question of whether facebook should have the power to decide what people see and hear i mean the theory beyond the incident was if more people wanted to see something that they should be allowed to see it and the of the when you do internet searches the things that come up with you put a question in you supposed to find the thing that most people are looking at but of course there is no started talking about changing the algorithms by which they do this to try and pick and choose what people should and shouldn't see which is of course a break with the way the internet supposed to operate and it's largely because what

happens in that circumstance is that governments like the u.s. government in this case simply can't control the narrative in the way they used to before the internet came along and they get worried about that and they're trying to to try to stop it facebook is also facing pressure from the british parliament a report from the house of commons accuses facebook of failing to protect its users from data breaches as well as from alleged russian this information artie's an associate or no reports now from london. well facebook is under fire following a damning over one hundred page report following eighteen months of work by a u.k. parliamentary committee now this is a report that looks at a handful of issues including alleged foreign and russian interference in elections but it's really facebook that gets a mouthful in this particular case from u.k. lawmakers described as a digital gangster that's ahead of and beyond the law it's accused of misleading

parliament treating it with content and quote intentionally and knowingly violating data privacy and competition laws and more facebook continues to choose profit over data. taking risks in order to prioritize their aim of making money from user data it seems clear to us that facebook acts only when serious breaches become public and making it even more personal here is what the committee chair had to say on mark zuckerberg specifically mark zuckerberg continually fails to show the levels of leadership and personal responsibility that should be expected from someone who sits at the top of one of the world's biggest companies well zuckerberg despite refusing to appear in front of this committee as many as three times really infuriating them for refusing to show up. basically respond via facebook statement saying that they believe they have contributed enough to the work that the committee was carrying out we share the committee's concerns about fox news and

election integrity and are pleased to have made a significant contribution to their investigation over the past eighteen months on trying more than seven hundred questions and with four of our most senior executives giving evidence well accusations are very well but in terms of what specifically this committee now wants is a code of ethics to be introduced as well as a possible legal action in case of breach of that code they want a reform of electoral laws in the u.k. and these platforms such as facebook being forced to take down dissent from asian and harmful content as well as having to take to pay taxes in the u.k. well now it has to be said that this committee before has previously been unhappy with not enough reaction and action from the u.k. government following their suggestions we'll have to wait and see if this time will be any different. president trump has said the u.s.

is keeping all options on the table to bring about a power transition in venezuela trump gave a speech in miami to a crowd including many venezuelan americans. we seek a peaceful transition of power. but all options are on. the wall once again president trump doesn't rule out any possible action for venezuela and while he says the united states seeks a peaceful resolution he hinted that the military option is a possibility if venezuelan president nicolas maduro does not step down willingly trump called on venezuelan military figures to accept amnesty from one quite go saying that if they don't then they will lose everything now up to this point the venezuelan military officers continue largely to support the elected president nicolas maduro trump says that they are risking their future and their lives and called on them to not make obstacles in delivering what he says is humanitarian aid

credibly there are members of the venezuelan military. still barely. supporting. this found dictatorship. they are risking their future. they are risking their lives you must not. block humanitarian aid now many are questioning if this is humanitarian aid at all including the international committee of the red cross who spokes person in colombia said it is quote not humanitarian aid and in the past days the u.s. military has brought shipments through the venezuelan border in cuckoo talk colombia and actually the billionaire richard branson has announced he will be staging a concert to pressure nicolas maduro to open the border to this so-called aid earlier today the venezuelan government announced it will be holding its own concert on the border and said it wants to deliver aid packages to the people of

kuku talk colombia now the international community has been split since one guy doe's declaration that he is the president of venezuela the united states the european union and many latin american countries have recognized. but china russia nearly all of africa and the caribbean countries are maintaining that my duro is the president so this diplomatic standoff continues as president trump hints at military action. and meanwhile the u.s. state department has imposed travel restrictions on venezuela's ambassador to the u.n. days earlier samuel cada had denounced the u.s. for blatantly attempting to orchestrate regime change in his country he is now banned from leaving in new york mr monk accused the u.s. of lying and manipulating the facts to mislead people about the true situation in his country venezuelan foreign minister brand of the movement restrictions as an attack on freedom of speech the executive director of the ron paul institute daniel

mcadams told us his view. well they do this to countries that they want to target for regime change or target for punishment i think they think they did it for russian diplomats in washington d.c. if i remember right and they do this for the countries that are on the u.s. bad list it's just another attempt to marginalize the legitimate government representatives of venezuela is the most this is the most you've got to hand it to this is the most transparent and overtly explained regime change in history. one is after a short break this is our two international. we're

witnessing something quite remarkable and this one twenty nine we're watching a country for a test bed and a nineteenth century bubble really for the last two hundred years they're going to crash into the twenty first century. as if they're just being teleported into the twenty first. joined me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then.

this is art international now a prominent french military officer who helped coordinate of the fight against islamic state in syria could be said to face punishment after he published a startling critique of the u.s. led coalition's anti terror tactics here is our press correspondent sharda penske. 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 one 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 rained down in those attacks led 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 genes 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.

groups such as amnesty international and for action against armed violence have talked about the higher cost of civilian casualties in syria as a result of the u.s. led coalition's actions and the way that it operates in the country now that's despite the fact that the u.s. says it doesn't get norm coleman battens 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 for the people of syria. french a political journalist and a commentator and elizabeth taylor believes that the article was deleted because military chiefs didn't like it. if you are in the army you are actually suppose not to write anything but you know where does that leave this magazine and other magazines and websites in which officers do discuss this defaulters general is written by muesli serving officers on the give

a sort of considered opinion it was deleted because there was a feeling that this office. of revealing tactics. was not mended to do so and also i think basically because some people got angry because he was saying this is not the right tactics for the french on it and i think somebody was annoyed because it looked like it was not the exact line of. the chief of staff and as a result that given to decide to do an article that would have been practically unknown. police investigating a suspected homophobic attack on an american t.v. actors say the case has shifted and want to know if the staged if he staged rather the assault himself just how small it is best known for his role in the long running show empire he claims two men attacked him and said margo country in reference to donald trump's make america great again campaign slogan that the claim

triggered a wave of antitrust outrage online as r.t. as it was done off comment. fury a torrent of anger and outpouring of rage that was the initial reaction to jesse's small its most unsettling story as so many people blamed trump and his cronies for nurturing the claimant over hate in america we have a media that's saying it's a debate whether or not what has happened in just this moment is a hate crime it's absurd. isn't it. this is how you have to be fired else impossible to not feel this way right now with yeah the president and the vice president like cancer like wishes i couldn't be married let's just be clear heartbroken and furious reading about the attack on juicy small it's i want trump and all my good lunatics to burn in hell the horrific

attack on just the small it has no place in a decent human loving society homophobia existed before trump but there's no question that since he's injected his hatred into the american bloodstream we are less decent less human and less loving no intolerance no d.t. there were many who directly tied the us government to what they unequivocal labeled a hate crime and there were more who publicly stood by smaller condemning the attack as an established fact donald trump included an employer who was allegedly attacked with racist and homophobic. so that i can tell you is. that. i think that's horrible. doesn't get worse as far as i'm concerned those who stayed away from this bandwagon were made to feel like outcasts and the police intrinsically you fell in this category two by their nature they had to investigate interrogate snoop around and as they did it appears even the fundamentals of this

case are not as obvious to them as they are to the angry twitter army. we can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police early in the case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation detectives arrested two suspects who smaller himself positively identified from of c.c.t.v. tapes as his attackers only to release them later without charge the trajectory of the case shifted said the police cryptically according to a source the police think their tack could have been staged by small it himself said c.n.n. that's an outrageous claim said small it's lawyer as a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation just a small it is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with some of his one stern supporters though may have

been caught off guard by a fresh flurry of mixed signals house speaker nancy pelosi discreetly deleted her first tweet hoping no one would notice but it's the internet before course they did others try to distance themselves from this case to the vicious attack on back to just a small it was an attempted to modern day lynching i'm glad he's safe is it time to revisit what you said about his remarks what is your feeling on potential faulty times in general all the information still coming out of the withhold it all the information that comes out on the record sources it goes without saying that any victim of a hate crime deserves every bit of sympathy and more including small it if his story passes the test of a police investigation but progressive america seems to be living out the concept of presumptuous guilt trigger happy and hell bent on bashing arguably the single most hated person in america donald trump. one of

the world's greatest tennis legends has reignited around over transgender athletes for taking part in women's competitions just a few months after being called out over an incendiary tweet our sports correspondent. has this commentary. you cannot just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women there must be some standards and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard this tweeted by one of the greatest female tennis players ever eighteen time grand slam winner martina navratilova set off an explosive backlash last december transgender activists namely transgender world cycling champion rachel mckinnon from canada lashed out forcing the tennis legend into an apology and a promise to read up on the subject now another dealer has broken her silence in an article for the times in britain she says she has researched the issue and that her beliefs have only been strengthened

a man can decide to be female take hormones everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if she still desires it's unseen and it's cheating never to have a specifically stressed that in order to achieve fairness in a competition by reducing hormone levels and method that many sport organizations have adopted to accommodate transgender athletes males would have to start that treatment before puberty something she branded as thinkable she also stressed that there should be a clear distinction between transgender and transsexual athletes with the latter having no competitive advantage due to the surgical nature of their sex change having cited several examples of both the tennis great also condemned what she called the vilification of athletes who want to be different recounting her own experience of being one of the first high profile athletes to come out as gay back in one thousand nine hundred one even so never to have

a slam toward twitter rival transgender world cycling champion rachel mckinnon and pulled no punches mackinnon who says she received more than one hundred thousand hate messages on twitter after winning the world championship has presented herself and transgender athletes. victims of prejudice there can be no excuse for such ignorance and nastiness but also deplore what seems to be a growing tendency among transgender activists to denounce anyone who argues against them and to label them all as trans faults and ideal of a perhaps preempted the fresh wave of criticism aimed at her with mackinnon and several pro transgender activist groups immediately branding her as trans phobic the renewed spat comes amid a legal battle between south african runner caster semenya and the international association of athletics federation the athletes challenging the acceptable to start their own limits for female athletes which were introduced by the i.a.e.a.

after last year it's an increasingly complex and emotional subject and the battle which looks unlikely to subside anytime soon. r.t. reporting from moscow. to police officers have been killed while trying to arrest a terrorist in cairo this according to egyptian police and the suspect reportedly set off a bomb when he was approached by officers outside a mosque the attacker died in the explosion and three other officers were injured and several civilians according to the egyptian interior ministry the terrorist was the target of a manhunt over the bombing of a police patrol unit last friday. those are from a more news in let's say thirty two and a half minutes watching international. the country has gone into a nihilistic theme. to thank. the road and get out the traveling across

america to find what makes america take the charlatans the genius this is the quintessential american hero this is it we found the point around which element is done something we always are on the margins something. called the culture has meaning for you. where starting last with is going to headed east into the swamp we're going into the belly of the beast and i think i want to leave now doesn't do any more ground of them it may be completely different and a mystery. after the previous stage of my career was over everyone wondered what i was going to do next the ball different clubs on one hand it is logical to sort of go from fields where everything is familiar on the other i want to the new challenge and the fresh perspective i'm used to surprising. or not serious if.

i'm going to talk about football not the or else you can think i was going to go. by the way what is it that's like here. on. the list and. i'm just not up to sit on my dishes. so there are a lot of build a little. tiny m. and then. wow but then i. looked. on the foot of the duck i. don't want out of the modern i don't want to worry about. something.

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