Latest / Apple News Today / At Senate hearing, tech CEOs grilled over protecting kids

Transcript

At Senate hearing, tech CEOs grilled over protecting kids · Apple News Today

• 0:00
  [MUSIC FADES IN]
• 0:04
  Yasmeen Khan, Narrating: Good morning. It's Thursday, February 1st. I'm Yasmeen Khan, in for Shamita Basu.
• 0:10
  This is "Apple News Today."
• 0:12
  Coming up: Things got tense between lawmakers and social media CEOs;
• 0:17
  Former football players struggle to get compensation from the NFL for dementia;
• 0:23
  And why some student-loan debts are disappearing.
• 0:27
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 0:34
  But first, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news.
• 0:38
  In the Middle East, U.S. negotiators are trying to rally support
• 0:42
  for a ceasefire proposal in Gaza.
• 0:44
  It would begin with a six-week ceasefire.
• 0:47
  Hostages in Gaza and prisoners in Israel would be released in phases,
• 0:51
  and more humanitarian supplies would be allowed into Gaza for civilians.
• 0:56
  Aid workers say it can't come soon enough.
• 0:59
  More than 11,000 children have died, and human rights workers estimate
• 1:03
  that more than 24,000 children have had parents killed in the war.
• 1:09
  On Capitol Hill, the House voted to pass legislation to expand the child tax credit
• 1:15
  and restore some corporate tax breaks.
• 1:18
  It was the rare example
• 1:19
  of a massive bipartisan vote on fiscal policy.
• 1:22
  [START CBS NEWS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:23
  [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
• 1:23
  Unidentified Speaker 1: The yeas are 357, the nays are 70,
• 1:27
  two-thirds being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended,
• 1:30
  the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider
• 1:34
  is laid on the table.
• 1:35
  [GAVEL BANGS]
• 1:36
  [END CBS NEWS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:36
  Khan, Narrating: But whether the bill can pass the Senate in time for the end of the tax filing
• 1:40
  season in April isn't clear.
• 1:43
  Several Senate Republicans are expressing concerns about the size of the tax cuts.
• 1:48
  Congress has not reached a bipartisan deal on more money for Ukraine.
• 1:53
  But today, the European Union is announcing an aid package
• 1:56
  worth more than $54 billion.
• 1:59
  That came after Hungary's prime minister agreed to the deal.
• 2:02
  He initially blocked it.
• 2:05
  And a high-stakes contract dispute is taking Taylor Swift off TikTok.
• 2:10
  Her songs are being removed, along with other Universal Music Group artists.
• 2:15
  The world's largest music company also has Olivia Rodrigo, Drake,
• 2:19
  Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, and many more.
• 2:22
  Universal says TikTok isn't paying enough, so it's pulling the music.
• 2:26
  [FUNKY MUSIC]
• 2:27
  TikTok says Universal's being greedy
• 2:29
  and points out that it's made agreements with other major music companies.
• 2:42
  The CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X, formerly known as Twitter,
• 2:48
  testified on Capitol Hill yesterday.
• 2:51
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 2:51
  The hearing was about safety risks social media platforms pose to children,
• 2:55
  and it got pretty heated at times,
• 2:57
  with senators demanding the CEOs take more responsibility for the roles
• 3:01
  platforms play in facilitating online child abuse.
• 3:05
  [START ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:05
  Josh Hawley: Would you like now to apologize to the victims who have been harmed
• 3:09
  by your product? Show them the pictures.
• 3:10
  [END ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:11
  Khan, Narrating: That's Republican Senator Josh Hawley talking to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• 3:16
  Some of those victims were sitting behind him,
• 3:18
  holding pictures of family members who died.
• 3:21
  And Zuckerberg did stand up, turn around,
• 3:24
  and tell them he was sorry for what they'd been through.
• 3:27
  [START ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:27
  Mark Zuckerberg: And this is why we invest so much and are going to continue doing
• 3:31
  industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through
• 3:35
  the types of things that your families have had to suffer.
• 3:37
  [END ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:38
  Khan, Narrating: But Zuckerberg did not agree to support the proposed "Kids Online Safety Act."
• 3:44
  The CEOs of TikTok and Discord did not agree to support it either.
• 3:48
  The bill would require online services
• 3:50
  to take new precautions to prevent harm to minors.
• 3:53
  Those against it, including civil liberties groups,
• 3:56
  say the bill, the way it's written, could conflict with free speech protections.
• 4:01
  Tech companies also cite
• 4:02
  free speech concerns in lawsuits aimed at new state laws.
• 4:06
  Several new policies aimed at protecting young people online
• 4:09
  have been temporarily blocked by judges.
• 4:12
  Lawmakers are fighting back,
• 4:14
  arguing that regulating how companies interact with minors
• 4:17
  can be done without threatening free expression.
• 4:21
  Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar talks about how frustrating the debate has been.
• 4:25
  [START ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 4:26
  Amy Klobuchar: I'm so tired of this. It's been 28 years, what, since the Internet?
• 4:29
  We haven't passed any of these bills
• 4:31
  'cause everyone's double talk, double talk.
• 4:33
  It's time to actually pass them.
• 4:35
  And the reason they haven't passed is because of the power of your company.
• 4:38
  So, let's be really, really clear about that.
• 4:41
  So, what you say matters.
• 4:42
  [END ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 4:43
  [INVESTIGATIVE MUSIC]
• 4:55
  Khan, Narrating: Back in 2015, the NFL settled a major lawsuit
• 4:59
  over long-term brain damage former players blamed on football.
• 5:03
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 5:04
  The settlement created a medical fund for players who developed dementia
• 5:07
  or other brain diseases linked to concussions.
• 5:11
  The NFL promised that some retired players could be eligible
• 5:14
  for millions in payments.
• 5:16
  And it agreed to fund a national network of doctors to evaluate players.
• 5:20
  But a new "Washington Post" investigation found the NFL denied many players' claims,
• 5:26
  including those who have strong medical evidence of brain damage.
• 5:30
  Will Hobson is on the story.
• 5:32
  Will Hobson: One main component is that the settlement's definition for dementia
• 5:36
  actually is unique and more difficult to qualify for
• 5:39
  than the regular definition for dementia that doctors use in hospitals and clinics
• 5:43
  across the country.
• 5:44
  So, you have a significant number of players who are
• 5:47
  developing dementia symptoms of CT,
• 5:49
  going through this process,
• 5:50
  failing to qualify for medical care or money,
• 5:53
  and then dying and having CTE confirmed at autopsy.
• 5:56
  Khan, Narrating: CTE is a devastating brain condition linked to repeated blows to the head,
• 6:01
  and it's been found at alarming rates among NFL players.
• 6:05
  Last year, specialists at Boston University
• 6:08
  found CTE in 91% of former players they studied.
• 6:13
  And Hobson found,
• 6:15
  more than a dozen players who failed to qualify for the NFL settlement fund,
• 6:19
  or for medical care through the league, were diagnosed with CTE after they died.
• 6:25
  CTE can only be fully confirmed by examining the brain after death.
• 6:30
  But doctors can see signs of it in living patients:
• 6:32
  memory loss, confusion, aggression, and mood swings.
• 6:37
  Hobson told us about Irv Cross, a defensive back for the Eagles and Rams,
• 6:42
  who later became the first full-time Black sports analyst on national TV.
• 6:47
  Hobson: By 2018, his dementia that he was dealing with
• 6:50
  was fairly obvious to anyone who spent considerable time with him.
• 6:54
  He'd been diagnosed with dementia the year before,
• 6:56
  and doctors actually suspected, and put in his medical records,
• 6:59
  "We think he has CTE."
• 7:00
  So, he goes through the NFL settlement process,
• 7:03
  and while his symptoms meet
• 7:04
  the regular definition of dementia in American medicine,
• 7:07
  he doesn't have the necessary test scores in the NFL settlement.
• 7:11
  Khan, Narrating: Cross was denied settlement benefits.
• 7:13
  When he died three years later, an autopsy confirmed he had severe CTE.
• 7:19
  In total, court records show the NFL settlement panel,
• 7:23
  in charge of reviewing medical claims,
• 7:25
  has denied more than half of the dementia claims that it's received.
• 7:29
  The NFL often blames fraud for denials,
• 7:32
  but none of the rejected claims "The Post" reviewed
• 7:35
  contained allegations of fraud.
• 7:37
  "The Post" did find dozens of cases
• 7:40
  where doctors working with the NFL settlement fund
• 7:43
  overruled dementia diagnoses made by qualified physicians
• 7:47
  who directly evaluated the players.
• 7:50
  Hobson: NFL players have a great degree of affection for each other
• 7:53
  and for some of the teams. But they hold the league itself in…
• 7:56
  a lot of them hold the league itself, in low regard, they tell us,
• 7:58
  and it's because of situations like this
• 8:00
  where they feel that the league made a public promise,
• 8:03
  but behind the scenes
• 8:05
  is avoiding following through on what it pledged it would do.
• 8:08
  Khan, Narrating: The NFL says the settlement has been effective,
• 8:11
  paying out nearly $1.2 billion
• 8:14
  to more than 1,600 former players and their families.
• 8:18
  [FUNKY MUSIC]
• 8:18
  You can read more from this in-depth investigation
• 8:20
  from "The Washington Post" on the Apple News app.
• 8:33
  Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that President Biden doesn't have the authority
• 8:38
  to broadly cancel student debt.
• 8:40
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 8:40
  So, the administration has been trying other things.
• 8:43
  The latest starts this month.
• 8:45
  Certain borrowers could see their student debt disappear
• 8:47
  through a new program.
• 8:49
  The benefit applies to relatively small federal loans,
• 8:52
  initial debts of $21,000 or less,
• 8:56
  as long as people have been making payments on them.
• 8:59
  "NPR" reporter Corey Turner told me
• 9:01
  to qualify, it is essential to make sure you're enrolled
• 9:04
  in the federal program called SAVE.
• 9:07
  Corey Turner: Now, they don't have to have been enrolled.
• 9:10
  They just have to go ahead and enroll now
• 9:13
  because that then… basically, it's like they're in class,
• 9:16
  they're raising their hand. That tells the department,
• 9:18
  "Okay, we think we qualify, here we go."
• 9:21
  Khan, Narrating: Turner says this plan will make a huge difference
• 9:23
  for people still under the weight of smaller loans.
• 9:27
  Turner: These are folks who are more likely to have gone to community college,
• 9:31
  or if they did go to a four-year program, you know, maybe they didn't finish,
• 9:36
  which means it's actually harder for them
• 9:38
  to actually keep up with the payments on that debt
• 9:40
  'cause they never got a wage premium for it.
• 9:43
  Khan, Narrating: And many people owe more than their original loan amount
• 9:46
  because of interest.
• 9:47
  Turner says
• 9:48
  the new plan is seen as a big deal because it speeds up loan forgiveness.
• 9:53
  For the most part, people have been required to make payments on debt
• 9:56
  for 20 years to qualify for forgiveness.
• 9:59
  The government's new plan
• 10:00
  cuts that in half for some people with the smallest loans.
• 10:04
  But Turner says the program does have its critics
• 10:07
  because it is quite expensive.
• 10:09
  Turner: Lots of people actually oppose the SAVE plan, mostly Republicans,
• 10:13
  because it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars
• 10:17
  over the next 10 years because it is so forgiving.
• 10:20
  [MUSIC FADES IN]
• 10:21
  Khan, Narrating: You can read more about the plan's details
• 10:24
  and all the stories we talked about today in the Apple News app.
• 10:28
  And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around.
• 10:31
  We've got a narrated article coming up next from "New York" magazine.
• 10:35
  It's about a high-profile college admissions advisor
• 10:38
  promising to turn students into Ivy League material.
• 10:41
  But it ain't cheap. Parents must pay $120,000 a year.
• 10:46
  If you're listening in the Podcasts app,
• 10:48
  follow Apple News+ Narrated to find that story,
• 10:51
  and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
• 10:54
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]