i spoke with courtney radish, david kirkpatrick, and a law professor. i asked if there were any legal issues for social media companies policing user posts. >> the legal point is the first amendment which guarantees free speech as a fundamental right. over the years where it has been litigation, mostly focused on filing video for children and the like and not so much on what happens in real news. the freedom of speech curtailed mostly on sex but there's a lot less litigation on violence and in recent weeks, we have been flooded with images from around the world. the last series of images we have seen from gaza and the ukraine and all of these raise issues that have not been extensively litigated. >> not necessarily illegal or legal? is that what you are saying? >> as far as first amendment issues or being charged with a criminal offense, that is what would be going on and properly covered. there may be tort law. families afflicted or people close to related to people seen dead or mutilated or ravaged on tv might have a legal civil claim against a newspa

i spoke to a law professor at uc hastings as well as an advocacy partner and david kirkpatrick. started by asking if there are any legal issues. >> guarantees free speech as a right. this has mostly focused on fake things like violent videos for children and the like and not so much what happens in real news. the freedom of speech is curtailed mainly in issues concerning sex, obscene materials usually receive less of a protected status but is a lot less litigation surprisingly on violence and in recent weeks, we have been flooded with violent images from all over the world this being just the last of a series we are seeing from gaza, the ukraine. all of these things raise issues that have not been extensively litigated certainly not in the context of social media. >> it's not necessarily legal or illegal? >> the question is what is legal? as far as being charged with a criminal offense that is probably impossible in this is probably covered by free speech. there may be concerns with tort law. people who are closely related seen dead or mutilated or violently ravished on tv might

many ways, that represents a little bit of the pressure that hamas is under at the moment. >> david kirkpatricki appreciate you being on. thank you. >> it's a pleasure. >> i always enjoy talking to him. up next, breaking news out of ukraine. our own nick paton walsh taking cover under darkness as gunfire rings out all around very close to him just a few blocks away. we'll get the very latest next. [ male announcer ] andrew. rita. sandy. ♪ meet chris jackie joe. minor damage, or major disaster, when you need us most, we're there. state farm. we're a force of nature, too. ♪ we're a force of nature, too. the ca♪illac summer collection is here. ♪ during the cadillac summer's best event, lease this 2014 ats for around $299 a month and make this the summer of style. >>> there is breaking news tonight in eastern ukraine. gunfire in the key city of donetsk, a russian rebel stronghold. the question is will it stay that way. ukrainian officials could be launching a major offensive. all this as nato says some 20,000 russian troops have gathered along the ukraine border. our nick paton walsh is in donetsk

earlier i spoke with "new york times" cairo bureau chief david kirkpatrick who wrote a peete piece abouts in "the new york times." and aaron miller and distinguished scholar of the woodrow wilson center. and author of the book why america can't have and doesn't want another great president. david, your article in "the new york times" makes a fascinating point, certainly no friend to israel over the years right now seem to prefer israel to hamas. can you explain why that is? >> well, the main reason is ironically enough because of the aftermath of the arab spring. the surge of political islam in egypt especially and across the region in the aftermath of the arab spring has triggered an ensuing crackdown, surge janse of more secular allies in the gulf. and right now they're concerned most of all to kind of beat back and stamp out political islam, much more than they're concerned about israel. and by political islam, they certainly include hamas. the militant islamist palestinian group that now governs gaza. >> and aaron, you were quoted in david's article saying the arab country mace have

mark was here recently with npr's guy rozz and david kirkpatrick, author of "the facebook effect."

. -- also with is a david kirkpatrick. thank you all so much for joining us.re there any legal issues here? like there are with child pornography. the legal point of departure is the first amendment which guarantees free speech is a fundamental right. years were there has been litigation about this, it has mostly focused on fake things like violent videos for and the like and not so much on what happens in real news. the freedom of speech has curtailed mostly in issues of obscene materials. there is a lot less litigation surprisingly on violence and in recent weeks, we have been flooded with violent images rmb all over the world, this being the last series of images we see from gaza and the ukraine and all of these things raise issues that have not been extensively litigated yet in the context of social media. >> so it's not necessarily illegal or legal? >> the question is what is legal? as far as the first amendment and being charged with a criminal offense, that is probably impossible. this is probably covered by free speech but there may be concerns pertain

. >> david kirkpatrick had a smart story on the nuances of thomas.> the question is whether israel feels it has a hold on all of the tunnels. whether it does or it doesn't. >> the israeli military pullout of gaza. >> great photos. nice job. >> thank you. i took them all myself. [laughter] >> we will stick with geopolitics coming up. tensions are escalating between russia and the rest of the world. prepares atin response to sanctions by the u.s. and europe. how does the white house move back now? we will talk to an expert on diplomacy, michael rubin, next on "bloomberg surveillance." this is "bloomberg surveillance." streaming on your tablet, smartphone, and bloomberg.com. ♪ >> this is "bloomberg surveillance." i'm scarlet fu with tom keene and brendan greeley. it adam johnson is on assignment. apple is the u.s. tech company latest to be excluded i chinese government services. the ipad and ipad mini were left on the final procurement list last month. china is concerned about security. the -- >> secure -- concerned about its own market. >> that's right

david kirkpatrick really shows that. >> if you look at the people with -- unemployment rates of people of unemployment, they are down to almost the lows that we thought the highs of the economy before. the skilled workers, the lace ism structure in a serious problem, but if you have skills, you should be able to get higher. for ournow, tobias, stories shipping today. tom, you have the run of radio. >> the front page of every article, including bloomberg news. you look at the bloomberg headlines, there is no news. >> although i find it incredible that president rouhani of iran is now backing president obama saying he approves of the american candidate to replace maliki, al-abadi. >> we cannot forget the news flow on the mountainside of the southern border of syria. >> there have been three drops of humanitarian aid? do i have that right? >> beachwood are -- yes. the twitter feed is shocking. >> people being hunted down essentially by islamic state, they are now going back to syria for safety. >> syria is safer than iraq? >> it is really grim. the confluence of events and the quiet of th