Transcript

9.9.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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September ninth, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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To day's front page headlines from the Washington Post are
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gunmen kill six an attack at Jerusalem bus stop. A
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photo caption first responders at the scene of a shooting
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at a rama junction in northern Israel, where Israeli officers
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said at least six people were killed and about two
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dozen injured Monday morning. Israel's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bett,
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said the two attackers who were killed at the scene
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were both from villages in the occupied West Bank. That
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story is in the interior of the paper. Next headline,
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Justices lift limits on emigration raids into LA area. Judge
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had deemed some stops unlawful. Opponents fhere. Order opens door
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to racial profiling. Next, ICE launches Chicago Blitz operation. The
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next headline meta suppressed safety Research employees say lawyers allegedly
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aimed to steer work on risks posed to children in
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VR the next headline, Trump cuts leave states in a
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massive budget bind. Next, can seawater save parched places? Countries
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like Morocco see desalination as a lifeline, but it has
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a cost. And the final headline from today's front page,
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House Panel releases Epstein documents trove includes redacted copy of
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quote birthday book with suggestive picture. Now, let's turn to
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our first item, entitled Justices lift limits on immigration raids
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in LA area. Judge had deemed some stops unlawful. Opponents
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fear order opens door to racial profiling. By Justin Juvenal
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Arelis are Nandez and Maria Secquetti, A divided Supreme Court
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on Monday lifted a ruling by a lower court judge
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who placed limits on emigration raids in the Los Angeles
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area after finding federal agents were indiscriminately targeting people based
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on race and other factors. The Justice has sided with
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the Trump administration, which argued that a temporary restraining order
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issued by a federal judge in California was hampering its
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ability to crack down on illegal migration, and that the
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stops by authorities were not unlawful. While the ruling only
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applies to counties, in southern California. Emigrant advocates feared it
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would open the door to racial profiling of Hispanic people.
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Across the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has vowed
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to expand mass arrests in other sanctuary jurisdictions. On Monday,
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ICE officials announced the start of Operation Midway Blitz in
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Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois, with the goal of detaining
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and deporting emigrants who commit crimes. This day reaffirms what
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we've always known. Lower court activist judges are trying to
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impede the President from lawfully carrying out the American People's agenda.
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Abigail Jackson, the Trump administration spokeswoman, said in a statement,
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we look forward to full vindication on this front in
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short order, but in the meantime, the Trump administration will
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continue fulfilling its mandate to arrest and depot criminal illegal aliens.
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The majority on the High Court did not offer a
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rationale for the decision, which is common in cases decided
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on the Supreme Court's emergency docket. Just as Brett M.
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Cavanaugh wrote in a concurring opinion that illegal immigration is
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a major issue in the Los Angeles area, he opined
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that race can be considered along with other factors in
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forming reasonable suspicion to stop someone for an immigration check,
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such as where people are gathering and what jobs they
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are working. To be clear, a parent ethnicity alone cannot
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furnish reasonable suspicion under this Court's case law regarding immigration stops. However,
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it can be a relevant factor when considered along with
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other salient factors. Kevanaugh wrote, the Court's three liberal justices
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sharply dissented. We should not have to live in a
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country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino,
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speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low waged job.
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Justice Sonya Soromayoor wrote in the Descent, rather than stand
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idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, eye dissent,
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immigrant advocates said the rulings at a dangerous precedent. Angelica Solis,
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executive director for the Los Angeles based Coalition for Humane
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Immigrant Rights, which is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit,
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said the Supreme Court decision, while not based on the
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merits of the case, sends a clear signal to the
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Latino Americans and non citizens you do not deserve protection.
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Salas accused immigration enforcement officers in the Los Angeles area
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of using racial profiling and their weeks long operation to
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justify arrests that had led to the detainment of U
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S citizens, harassment, broken bones, and the death of at
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least one person. She said she expected more of the
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aggressive tactics employed by roving bands of federal officers targeting
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Latino populated neighborhoods to come as a result of the decision.
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Our Constitution is very clear in that it applies to
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all persons living in the United States as being entitled
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to civil rights. Salas said, unless you decide we are
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not people, you are saying we don't have rights in
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this country, citizen or non citizen. California Governor Gavin Newsom,
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a Democrat, also criticized the ruling. Trump's hand picked Supreme
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Court majority just became the grand marshal for a parade
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of racial terror in Los Angeles. Newsom said in a statement.
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The raids sparked major protests in southern California, some featuring
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clashes between demonstrators and police. President Donald Trump deployed roughly
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five thousand National Guard troops and marines in response. California
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Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and local officials objected and
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sued to stop the deployment. Most of the troops have
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since been sent home. The raids began in early June
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as part of what Trump officials described as the largest
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mass deportation operation in history. The administration set a goal
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of detaining more than three thousand undocumented immigrants each day
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across the country. Agents targeted bus stops, parks, schools, and
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businesses such as home depot and seven eleven three people
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who were detained in their raids sued seeking their release.
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The case was later certified as a class action and
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was joined by a union advocates for immigrants and others
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who had been stopped. The plaintiffs alleged federal immigration officers
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have adopted a policy and practice of conducting immigration operations
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in violation of their obligation to stop individuals in public
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only if there is reasonable suspicion. The Fourth Amendment requires
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authorities to have specific evidence a person is in the
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country illegally to make such a stop, but the plaintiffs
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asserted immigration and Customs enforcement agents were profiling targets based
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on their race or ethnicity, whether they spoke Spanish or
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accent in English, where they were located, or what chod
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they were performing. Numerous US citizens and others who are
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lawfully present in this country have been subjected to significant
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intrusions on their liberty, the plaintiffs wrote in a filing
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with the Supreme Court. Many have been physically injured were
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taken to a holding facility. The plaintiff's filings with the
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Supreme Court highlight several cases of Latino U. S Citizens
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being detained in raids at a tow yard, a bus stop,
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and a car wash. As proof of the indiscriminate nature
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of the stops, some are stopped multiple times. Jason Bryan Gavidia,
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a U. S. Citizen who was born in East Los Angeles,
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was slammed against a metal gate by two immigration agents
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who confronted him and questioned him about whether he was
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a citizen. According to the lawsuit, the agents took Kavida's
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identification and phone before setting him free about twenty minutes later.
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According to the lawsuit, Kavita said his id was never returned.
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In July, the plaintiffs asked a federal judge to issue
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a temporary restraining order requiring the federal government to have
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established reasonable suspicion before conducting an immigration related stop. U
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S District Judge mammay E U C Menzo Froupan, a
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Biden appointee, found there was a mountain of evidence that
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authorities were conducting unlawful stops targeting low wage workers at
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public locations, at least in part, based on their apparent ethnicity.
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Frempong enjoined the government from conducting raids based on four
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factors alone or in combination, race, speaking Spanish or accent
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in English, presents in certain locations, and occupation. The decision
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was later upheld by an appeals court. Trump officials appealed
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that ruling to the Supreme Court, saying the Los Angeles
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area was a key enforcement priority in the administration's cracked
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down on illegal migration because it was home to an
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estimated two million undocumented people, mostly from Mexico and Central America.
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Trump officials said they should be able to use the
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factors prohibited by frempong in forming an overall assessment of
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reasonable suspicion. They said, it is well established that some
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types of employers seek to hire undocumented immigrants in certain locations,
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and the migrants often gravitate toward jobs that don't require papers,
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such as landscaping and construction. The district courts in junction
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now significantly interferes with federal enforcement efforts across a region
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that is larger and more populous than many countries and
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has become a major epicenter of the immigration crisis. Solicitor
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General d John Sower wrote in a filing with a
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High court, the raids put the Los Angeles area on edge.
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Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, has been a vocal critic
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of the stops, as well as the deployment of troops
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by Trump, calling it an armed occupation. In July, she
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signed an executive order supporting immigrant communities in Los Angeles,
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and she is requesting records from federal agencies for raids
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she described as unlawful. About two hundred and fifty National
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Guard troops remain in the city. The plaintiffs said they
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will continue the legal fight, and hearing for a preliminary
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injunction is scheduled for September twenty fourth, said Alvaro Huerta,
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director of litigation and advocacy for Immigrant Defenders Law Center
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in California. This case will likely come back to the
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Supreme Court, but in the meantime is going to have
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serious and grave consequences for Southern Californians who have to
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fear just being Latino and speaking Spanish can subject them
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to cruel and brutal actions by ICE agents. Huerta said.
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The ruling is the latest in a string of winds
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before the Supreme Court for Trump. The justices have allowed
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the president to cut nearly eight hundred million dollars in
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National Institutes of Health grants and have curtailed the ability
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of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions blocking Trump's initiatives,
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among other rulings. In a separate case, Monday, Chief Justice
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John G. Roberts Junior allowed Trump to fire democratic member
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of the Federal Trade Commission while the High Court considers
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whether to weigh in on a lawsuit challenging her removal.
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Our next item is entitled ICE Lancer's Chicago Blitz Operation,
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but Mariana Alfaro, Aretas are Anandez, Marianne Levine, and Kim
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Belware from Chicago. The Department of Homeland Security said Monday
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that it has launched an immigration enforcement operation here as
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part of the Trump administration's effort to target quote sanctuary cities.
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An immigrant advocate said several people in heavily Hispanic communities
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have been detained. The agency did not provide details of
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the scale or duration of the undertaking in Chicago, which
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will be led by Immigration and Customs enforcement. The announcement
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came after President Donald Trump vowed for weeks that his
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administration would send federal law enforcement officers, including potentially National
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Guard troops, to the city as part of an effort
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to crack down on crime. Local officials and immigrant advocates
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said federal immigration officers began making arrest in Chicago on
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Sunday and had taken at least five people into custody,
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including a well known flower vendor and people waiting at
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a bus stop and on the sidewalk. The advocates said
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there had been an escalation in enforcement actions and reported
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several sightings of ICE vehicles. The number of reported arrests
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is relatively few, but immigrant rights advocates said the operation
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appears to mark a shift in ICE tactics. Before this operation,
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local activists said agents had been targeted in their tactics,
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presenting warrens at specific homes or detaining people at immigration court,
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stopping people on the street in what appeared to be
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a fairly random fashion. Is new, they said. We believe
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this operation signals the beginning of ICE's full escalation in
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Chicago and Illinois, said Ray Wendcey's, the senior director of
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Deportation Defense for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
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DHS named the enforcement action Operation Midway Blood and said
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it was in honor of an Illinois woman allegedly killed
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by an undocumented immigrant driving drunk when he crashed into
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our vehicle. In announcing the operation, the agency republished an
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interview with the parents of twenty year old Katherine Abraham,
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who died in January after being rear ended by a
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vehicle authority said was driven by Julio Kukulbol of Guatemala.
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President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Christy L. Nong have
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a clear message. No city is a safe haven for
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criminal illegal aliens. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, if you
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come to our country illegally and break our laws, we
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will hunt you down, arrest you to Portune, and you
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will never return. Emigrant advocates and democrats in Chicago and
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Illinois rebuked the administration accusing it of using the pretext
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of cracking down on violent crime to target undocumented migrants
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as part of the president's mass deportation campaign. Studies have
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found that migrants who enter the UNI United States, either
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legally or without authorization, do not commit other crimes at
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a higher rate than US citizens. As President Donald Trump
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continues to wrongly hyper fixate on deploying the military to Chicago,
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his administration is now ramping up its campaign to arrest
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hard working immigrants with no criminal convictions, Senator Dick Durbin,
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Democrats from Illinois, said in a statement statement the ICE
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operation in Chicago comes after the Trump administration ramped up
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enforcement actions in Los Angeles, Washington, and Boston. Like those jurisdictions,
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Chicago and Illinois are led by Democratic officials, setting up
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a clash over immigration at a time when public polls
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show waning support for some of Trump's hardline enforcement tactics. Democrats, however,
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have struggled to project an alternative vision for how the
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nation should move forward on the issue. Trump and his
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top aides have long railed against sanctuary city policies that
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limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Had been embraced by
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many Democratic led jurisdictions Chicago and Illinois adopted statutes that
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prohibit city and state law enforcement from inquiring about a
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person's immigration status during an arrest or transferring custody of
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people who are arrested to federal immigration agents unless instructed
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by a court order. Over the weekend, DHS launched Operation
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Patriot two point zero in Boston as a successor to
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an enforcement operation earlier this year. Joe Abraham, the father
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of Catherine, said in an interview with The Washington Post
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on Monday that DHS reached out to him over the
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weekend to inform him of the new ICE operation. In Chicago,
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Illinois police have said the man charged in the death
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of Catherine Abraham and her friend attempted to flee the
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country on a bus headed to Mexico before the US
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Marshal's Service apprehended him. I thought, okay, well, I'm glad
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to hear someone recognizes and acknowledges Katy, because she is
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someone that should be recognized, should be honored, Joe Abraham
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said of the Trump administration, If it's an operation where
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they're looking to get after undocumented criminals, I'm not sure
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there's any controversy around that. He said, if another parent
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doesn't have to go through what I'm going through, I'm
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all for it. I has said it is focusing enforcement
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operations on immigrants who commit violent crimes, but those individuals
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have consistently represented a small percentage of the overall arrests
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of undocumented people as the administration has sought to meet
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the president's mass deportation goals. According to a post analysis
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of ICE dated from June, the examination found that the
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administration is increasingly targeting unauthorized migrants with no criminal record.
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Call volume to Chicago's hotline for immigrant families has been
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high since Sunday, organizers said, but the calls have reportedly
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included false alarm amid growing city wide awareness about ICE activity.
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Chicago aldomen Gilbert Viegos, who represents the thirty sixth ward,
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which includes the predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods of Humboldt Park, Hermosa,
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and Montclair, said his constituents are increasingly fearful in the
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wake of the reported DJ's operation. People are concerned about
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if they're walking somewhere, they're going to be asked for
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their papers, He said, How do you prepare to leave
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your home? To make sure that you can come back.
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As arrest began late Sunday into Monday, community leaders said
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they spotted unusual cars in the Southwest neighborhoods and began
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confronting suspected federal agents. Groups of residents who organize themselves
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to provide assistance to families of those arrested by ICE
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found out as soon as reports of unmarked vans with
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tinted windows appeared, activists, said Aliaz Saipeda, a community advocate
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with Pilsen Defense and Access, said volunteers had increased their
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presence during morning school drop off patrol, where they collectively
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help ensure that children make it to school if their
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parents are afraid of leaving the house because of the
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presence of ICE officers. We pulled up after the first
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detention had gone down, and neighbors came out and people
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honked their horns to let people know that ICE is out,
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said Carina Martinez, a spokesperson for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council,
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noting that she had not seen that response before in
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the middle of the chaos, it's really beautiful to see
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the community making its own defense mechanisms, she said. The
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community group was aware of at least three arrests in
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the Archer Heights neighborhood on Sunday. The arrests unfolded between
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late morning and early afternoon in the span of roughly
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one square mile around a major thoroughfare. Martinez said ICE
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detained older Latino men, including a popular flower vender, a
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man walking outside a gas station, and another person out
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for a walk. She said the neighborhood council connected the
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relatives of two of the detained men to legal aid support.
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Witnesses said far right personality Ben Burquam, who is affiliated
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with Stephen K. Bannon's conservative network Real America's Voice, accompanied
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ICE on patrols and emerged from one of their vehicles
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to confront a gathering crowd of neighbors questioning police about
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an arrest. According to videos of the incident and the
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outlet social media, Bergquam accused Chicago neighbors of protecting criminals.
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In a social media post on x Berquam posted video
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of the confrontation and wrote, sickening. As we were out
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on an hashtag ICE operation to pick up a criminal
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eagle alien in Chicago, a bunch of leftists showed up
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and this happened. These are the enemies within our founders
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warned us about. Researchers have found that immigrants commit fewer
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crimes than native born Americans and do not raise crime
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rates in the US communities where they settle, according to
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the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. The organization cited a study
20:56
from the National View of Economic Research that found immergrants
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were sixty percent less likely to be incarcerated than people
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born in the United States in twenty twenty. Another study,
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based on data from the Texas Department of Public Safety
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and published in twenty twenty, found considerably lower felony arrest
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rates among undocumented immigrants compared to legal immigrants and native
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born US citizens. Sociologist Robert J. Sampson's project on Human
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Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, which studied crime trends among neighborhoods
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in the city in the nineteen nineties and two thousands,
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found that communities with high concentrations of first generation immigrants
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experienced less violent crime than other communities in similar economic shape.
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There is very little recent research on the connection between
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crime and immigration in Chicago, in part due to local
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laws that limit the collection and sharing of individual's immigration status.
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Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya, whose district concludes most of
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Chicago's predominantly Latino neighborhoods, said the arrests have no rest strategy,
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no laws. The result, she said, is not safer streets,
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but communities fearful of everyday activity such as going to
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work or to school. The fact that Mexican American communities
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have been targeted just for being who they are. This
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is something that's happened before in the history of our country.
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Hanaya said. There's no due process and no guidance in
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what is actually happening. That's scary and every American should
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be looking at this. Armandez reported from San Antonio and
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The Vine from Washington. Robert Clenkoe and Washington contributed to
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this report. The next item from today's from page is
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entitled METTA Suppressed Safety Research employees say lawyers allegedly aim
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to steer work on risks posed to children. In vir
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by John Swain and Naomi Nicks. At her home in
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western Germany, a woman told a team of visiting researchers
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from METTA that she did not allow her sons to
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interact with strangers on the social media giant's virtual reality headsets.
23:01
Then her teenage son interjected. According to two of the researchers,
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he frequently encountered strangers and adults had sexually propositioned his
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little brother, who was younger than ten, numerous times. I
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felt this deep sadness watching the mother's response, one of
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the researchers, Jason Satizon, told The Washington Post regarding the
23:22
April twenty twenty three conversation, her face in real time
23:26
displayed her realization that what she thought she knew of
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metas technology was completely wrong. Metta had publicly committed to
23:35
making child safety a top priority across its platforms, but
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Satissan and the second researcher, who specializes in studying youths
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and technology, said that after the interview, their boss ordered
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the recording of the teen's claims deleted, along with all
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written records of his comments. An internal Meta report on
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the research said that in general, German parents and teens
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feared grooming by strangers in virtual reasality, but the report
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did not include the teen's assertion that his younger siblings
24:05
actually had been targeted. The report is part of a
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trove of documents from inside Meta that was recently disclosed
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to Congress by two current and two former employees who
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alleged that Metas suppressed research that might have illuminated potential
24:20
safety risks to children and teens on the company's virtual
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reality devices and apps, an allegation the company has vehemently denied.
24:29
After leaked to Meta studies led to Congressional hearings in
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twenty twenty one, the company deployed its legal team to screen, edit,
24:37
and sometimes veto internal research about youth safety in VR.
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According to a joint statement the current and former employees
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submitted to Congress in May, they assert Meta's legal team
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was seeking to establish plausible deniability about negative effects of
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the company's products. According to the statement, which along with
24:58
the documents, was obtained by the Post, The internal documents
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include guidance from Meta's legal team instructing researchers how to
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handle sensitive topics that carried the risk of bad press, lawsuits,
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or action by regulators. In one twenty twenty three message exchange,
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a Meta lawyer advised a user experience researcher that, due
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to regulatory concerns, he should avoid collecting data that showed
25:23
children were using its VR devices. The documents include messages
25:28
from employees warning that children younger than thirteen were bypassing
25:32
age restrictions to use the company's virtual reality services. Meta
25:37
did not create parental controls for tween VR users until
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the Federal Trade Commission began investigating its compliance with the
25:44
law meant to protect children online. According to slide decks
25:48
and memos included in the documents, the company offers different
25:52
interpretations of many of the documents than the group of
25:55
current and former employees, and some of the group's allegations
25:59
are based on its members accounts of events and interactions,
26:03
not on the Meta documents submitted to Congress. In a
26:06
statement to the Post, Meta spokeswoman Danny Lever said that
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the allegation that Meta curtailed research is based on a
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few examples stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative,
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and that the company has had no blanket prohibition on
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research about people under thirteen. Meta has produced research on
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youth safety in virtual reality, and the company consulted children
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and their parents as it created the tween accounts, she said.
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Lever added that Meta's virtual reality devices have long had
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safety features, including the ability to block problematic users and
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Over time, the company has used research to develop additional
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protections for young people, including parental supervision measures and a
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fault settings that allow teams to communicate only with people
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they know. We stand by our research team's excellent work
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and are dismayed by these mischaracterizations of the team's efforts.
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Lever said. Metta did not directly dispute or confirm the
27:05
events in Germany described by the researchers, but said such
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a deletion would have been meant to ensure compliance with
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the US federal law governing the handling of children's personal
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data and with a General Data Protection Regulation, a landmark
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European privacy law that broadly prohibits companies from collecting personal
27:23
information from any one without consent. Global privacy regulations make
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clear that if information from minors under thirteen years of
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age is collected without verifiable rental or guarding consent, it
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has to be deleted, lever statement said. Satizan said the
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mother had given consent for the collection of information about
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her younger son in a contract she signed before the interview.
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She participated in the conversation about his experiences and asked
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to return to the subject later in the interview, Satizen said.
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He added that in his experience in other surveys subject
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to the law, Meta did not require researchers to erase
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information when interviewee shared information about other people. Experts have
28:06
long warned that virtual reality can endanger children by potentially
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exposing them to direct, real time contact with adult predators.
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In VR, a user wears a headset that allows them
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to block out their real environment and fully immerse themselves
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in a digital world where they interact with other users.
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Matter has for years faced allegations from activists and authorities,
28:29
including state attorneys general, members of Congress, and President Joe
28:33
Biden's surch in General, that its social media platforms keep
28:37
young people hooked while compromising their privacy and mental health.
28:41
Members of Congress have more recently expressed youth safety concerns
28:45
about the company's virtual reality services. The documents given to
28:50
Congress include thousands of pages of internal messages, memos, and
28:54
presentations from the past decade that relate to metas virtual
28:58
reality services. Evison is part of the group that submitted them,
29:02
as is the youth researcher who is his domestic partner.
29:06
She spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity
29:08
because she still works in the technology industry and says
29:12
she fears retribution. In a sworn affidavit including in the documents,
29:16
Sautizan said he was fired in April last year after
29:19
disputes with managers about restrictions on research. He told the
29:23
posts that he does not currently have a job. The
29:26
youth researcher said she quit in twenty twenty three after
29:29
four years at the company, in part because she felt
29:32
unable to continue her work ethically. Two other members of
29:36
the group, also researchers, still work at Meta. Their lawyers
29:40
said they redacted their names and the documents submitted to
29:43
Congress to shield them from retaliation. The four researchers, along
29:49
with two others who also submitted affidavits to Congress about
29:52
other Meta related issues, are being represented by the legal
29:56
non profit whistle Blower Aid. The organization also worked with
30:00
former Meta product manager Francis Hogan, who leaked the internal
30:04
company studies in twenty twenty one that set off congressional
30:07
scrutiny and a public relations crisis for the Silicon Valley corporation.
30:12
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee is scheduled to discuss the group's
30:16
allegations at a hearing on Tuesday. The subcommittee examines laws
30:20
and regulations around online safety and seeks to hold tech
30:23
platforms accountable. Last week, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
30:27
Committee sent Mediceo Mark Zuckerberg a letter demanding information about
30:32
the presence of minors in Horizon world, the company's flagship
30:37
vir game. For the past decade, Meta has spent billions
30:41
to build out the virtual Quote Metaverse, which Zuckerberg has
30:45
said will transform human communication. In his futuristic vision, people
30:50
will maneuver in and out of virtual and physical spaces
30:53
for work, entertainment, and socializing. Meta has sold about twenty
30:57
million VIA headsets by twenty twenty three, according to internal
31:01
data obtained by The Verge, making the company the world's
31:04
top seller of such devices, but earning reports show that
31:08
Reality Labs, the company's virtual reality division, has lost more
31:12
than sixty billion dollars over the past five years. Much
31:16
as a smartphone can run apps developed by various companies,
31:20
metas headsets can be used for exercise classes, traditional video games,
31:25
and social apps created by Meta and others. In Horizon Worlds,
31:29
users pick an avatar, their digital persona, and then travel
31:33
to virtual spaces such as a live concert, a bar,
31:37
a mock courtroom, or church, users talk to one another
31:41
using their own voices. Some academics who study virtual reality
31:46
have said that people tend to feel a strong sense
31:49
of embodiment and connection to their avatars, making virtual bullying
31:53
or sexual assault illicit feelings similar to real life attacks.
31:57
Some academics and advocates for online child's safety also have
32:01
said that younger users are not as prepared as adults
32:05
to respond to potentially dangerous situations that might arise from
32:08
online relationships. In twenty twenty one, a forty eight year
32:12
old child sex offender in Michigan allegedly asked a nine
32:16
year old girl for explicit photographs and said she should
32:19
come to his home after they met on another company's
32:22
social via application through meta headsets, according to federal court records,
32:28
after pleading guilty to sexually exploiting a different child, the
32:31
man was sentenced to thirty five years in prison. In
32:35
twenty twenty two, a twenty five year old man took
32:38
a thirteen year old girl from her family's home in
32:40
Utah after they too met and interacted through a chat
32:44
feature on meta headsets. The girl told police that the
32:48
man touched her and asked her for sex. The man
32:51
pleaded guilty in federal court to transporting a miner with
32:54
intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and as serving
32:57
a ten year prison sentence. Meta set it prohibits behavior
33:01
that endangers children on his platforms and works closely with
33:05
law enforcement to protect young people online. Meta maintains control
33:09
over which apps are available on its headsets, and the
33:12
company imposes safety requirements for outside developers that create programs
33:16
for its devices, such as the app. In the twenty
33:19
twenty one case, the company declined to comment on the
33:23
specific protections offered by third party apps on its devices.
33:28
The Right Thing to Do. In twenty fourteen, having dominated
33:32
social media, Suckerberg placed his next strategic bet, building immersive
33:37
digital environments that enabled people to feel a sense of
33:40
presence in another place. Meta, then still known as Facebook,
33:45
entered what was then the nascent virtual reality market with
33:49
a two billion dollar acquisition of VR headset maker Oculus VR.
33:54
Meta's headset packaging in terms of service warned that the
33:57
product was meant only for people and older, but as
34:02
on many digital platforms at the time, including Facebook, there
34:06
was a little to stop younger children from signing up
34:08
and lying about their age. At least as early as
34:12
April twenty seventeen, metas staff saw the rules being broken.
34:16
According to one document in the trove, we have a
34:19
child problem and is probably time to talk about it.
34:22
Read the title of a post on an employee message
34:24
board to discuss VR. A copy shows the name of
34:28
the employee who wrote the post was redacted in the
34:31
copy submitted to Congress, as were many other names in
34:34
the trove. The employee estimated that in some virtual rooms
34:39
as many as eighty to ninety percent of users were
34:42
under age based on the sound of their voices. The
34:45
clear syndication of VR uses true ages. The employee recounted
34:50
that three young kids six question Mark, seven question Mark
34:54
were chatting with a much older man who was asking
34:57
them where they livedmployee asked whether the company was doing
35:02
all it could to comply with the Children's Online Privacy
35:05
Protection Act or KAPPA, a US law that bars a
35:09
collection of personal information from children under thirteen without parental consent.
35:14
META collects data from users of its products. This is
35:18
the kind of thing that eventually makes headlines in a
35:21
really bad way. The employee wrote, Among the many replies
35:25
to the post, one said that the company was working
35:28
to develop a safety website and give parents information about VR,
35:33
among other resources. In August twenty twenty one, an internal
35:38
company study on virtual public spaces found the prevalence of
35:41
kids was one of the most frequent complaints, with some
35:44
users uncomfortable that there are not more adults to interact with.
35:49
According to a copy that was part of the trove,
35:52
Meta told the post that the headsets were meant only
35:55
for people thirteen and older, and emphasized that the product
35:58
packaging made that clear. After the company launched Horizon Worlds
36:02
in twenty twenty one, it began offering users the ability
36:05
to mute, block, or report others. The company has previously said.
36:11
It also set teen's account to private by default and
36:15
limited their ability to see mature content. As more people
36:19
started using these devices and Meta launched its own games
36:22
and apps, we added many more protections, especially for young people,
36:26
said Lever, the company spokeswoman. In fall twenty twenty one,
36:31
the company was thrown in a crisis when Hagud released
36:34
her cash of internal studies and other documents to media organizations, revealing,
36:40
among other things, how the company was trying to entice
36:43
younger users. The league also revealed that the company knew
36:47
about some of the negative effects of its social networks,
36:50
including that Instagram was harmful for some teenage girls. Suckerberg
36:55
complained that an onslaught of bad press misled the public
36:59
about the recent arguing it downplayed the positive effect of
37:03
their company's products. Yet he vowed that tough media coverage
37:07
would not deter the company from candidly examining its impact
37:11
on the world. We're going to keep doing research because
37:14
it's the right thing to do, Suckerberg wrote. In an
37:17
October twenty twenty one Facebook post. He said he was
37:21
resisting tendencies by other companies to avoid looking too closely
37:25
at their products in case you find something that could
37:28
be held against you. Six weeks later, however, the company,
37:32
newly renamed Betta, deployed in house lawyers to caution researchers
37:36
in Reality Labs about examining sensitive topics carrying publicity, policy
37:42
and legal risks, including children, gender, race, elections, and harassment.
37:48
According to documents in the trove. In a November twenty
37:52
twenty one slide presentation, Meta lawyers advised reality Labs researchers
37:57
that there were two ways they could mitigate the risk
38:00
of conducting sensitive research. A copy of the slide deck
38:03
shows one way was to conduct highly sensitive research under
38:07
attorney client privilege, which shields communications between lawyers and their
38:11
clients from adverse parties. The presentation noted to ensure such protection,
38:17
researchers should copy lawyers on all e mails related to
38:20
the highly sensitive studies, have all findings reviewed by lawyers,
38:24
and share them only on a need to know basis.
38:26
The presentation advised. The second way to limit risk was
38:31
to quote be mindful about how they framed studies and
38:34
communicate findings. The presentation said. They should not use terms
38:39
such as not compliant or illegal, or say that something
38:43
violates a specific law, the presentation said, advising they leave
38:47
such legal conclusions to lawyers. Setizon, who joined META in
38:51
twenty eighteen, said that presentation signaled a new era in
38:56
which lawyers were much more deeply involved in research than before.
39:00
Meta said that lawyers have long partnered with research teams
39:03
at the company, and there is nothing controversial about META
39:07
lawyers advising researchers on attorney client privilege or explaining that
39:11
some work might require little Advice. Changes instituted after Haugen's
39:16
disclosures were intended to make sure that research is high
39:19
quality and accurate, the company said a spicy topic. After
39:26
the Hagen congressional hearings, Meta employees continued to raise alarms
39:30
internally that children under thirteen were using their company's VIA products,
39:35
according to the Document Trove. In a January twenty twenty
39:39
two posts to a private internal message board, a Meta
39:42
employee flagged the presence of children in Horizon Worlds, which
39:46
was at a time supposed to be used only by
39:49
adults eighteen and over. The employee wrote that an analysis
39:53
of app reviews indicated many were being driven off the
39:56
app because of child users. A company official wrote in
40:00
response that if employees plan to share the findings more
40:04
widely across the company, they should avoid saying kids like
40:08
we know for sure they are kids, instead use alleged
40:12
youth or alleged miners with young sounding voices who may
40:15
be under age. Matta told the Post that the company
40:19
does not view app reviews as a reliable source of
40:21
information about users ages, and that it has better ways
40:25
to determine how old users are. The youth researcher joined
40:29
the VR research team from another metadivision in early twenty
40:32
twenty two. She told the posts that she soon suggested
40:36
to a lawyer assigned to work with the team that
40:39
she assessed the harms that children and young people face
40:41
in VR, and that the lawyer rejected that idea. The
40:45
youth researcher said she later partnered with a product operations team,
40:49
which did not face the same restrictions as researchers, to
40:53
study the issue, hoping to strengthen safeguards for children in
40:56
virtual reality. The youth researcher said the teams studied publicly
41:00
available app reviews and via Facebook groups, where they found
41:05
hundreds of allegations of inappropriate behavior on meta products, including
41:09
grooming that is, building a rapport with a child to
41:12
enable abuse, along with bullying and simulated sexual acts. She
41:18
said they compiled those allegations in a fifty nine page
41:21
document that they shared with a small group of colleagues
41:24
in an effort to spread awareness. Metta did not respond
41:27
to questions on that document, which was among those submitted
41:30
to Congress. The company disputed that a lawyer would be
41:34
in a position to approve or reject a study, and
41:37
said that lawyers never edit research results. Lawyers offer advice
41:42
and suggestions, the company said, but research leaders ultimately determined
41:46
which studies to pursue and the scope of their projects.
41:50
Metta continued to face outside pressure to address questions about
41:54
children on its platforms. In March twenty twenty two, the
41:58
FTC sent Meta a previously unreported legal demand to turn
42:02
over information about the company's compliance with Kappa, the federal
42:06
children's privacy law. Company executives and attorneys hurried to fend
42:10
off potential legal action. Documents show it was a really
42:15
frantic scramble, the youth researcher said. Within months, the company
42:19
started an initiative codenamed Project Salsa. Satizan and the youth
42:24
researchers said that they didn't know who chose that name
42:27
or why, but employees working on the project widely understood
42:31
it as a reference to the fact that the use
42:33
of technology by children was a spicy topic. Project Salsa
42:38
was aimed at creating special tween headset accounts for children
42:41
ages ten to twelve, which would institute new parental controls
42:46
to help Meta comply with federal law. Asked about the rush,
42:50
Lever said the effort to create tween accounts came on
42:54
top of all the protections we had already in place
42:57
for teens. Internally, company officials acknowledged in a slide deck
43:02
that it was a partial measure that wouldn't immediately address
43:05
the fact that children under ten were also using metavr products.
43:09
Document show because we know there are U tens on
43:13
the platform, regulators might find the company was violating federal law.
43:17
One slide presentation warned. Meta told the Post that it
43:22
chose a ten year old cut off so it could
43:24
make sure it was offering age appropriate content. The company
43:28
said it later implemented an initiative that asked headset users
43:32
to confirm their birth dates. Those who said they were
43:34
under ten were removed regulatory concerns. In October twenty twenty two,
43:41
senior executives in Meta's VIR division witnessed that children were
43:45
using their products. According to Kelly stone Lake, a former
43:48
director of product marketing, stone Lake and the executives were
43:52
attempting to test Horizon Worlds. As they roamed a three
43:56
D amusement park using VR headsets. They struggled to hear
44:00
one another above the screams of high pitched voices that
44:03
sounded like young children, Stonelake told the post. To avoid
44:07
the distraction of the kids, the group simply moved its
44:10
subsequent meanings to closed spaces in Horizon Worlds where they
44:14
could not be interrupted. Stonelake said she first shared her
44:17
account this year as part of a complaint to the
44:20
FTC alleging that Meta was knowingly allowing underaged children on
44:24
its app. She has also filed a separate lawsuit against Meta,
44:29
alleging sex discrimination, and is not part of the group
44:32
that recently submitted documents to Congress. Her lawsuit is ongoing,
44:36
and Meta has challenged her allegations in court. As Project
44:41
Sausa continued that fall of twenty twenty two, the youth
44:44
researcher said she proposed a study of the company's effectiveness
44:48
at determining the true ages of their users. Prior research
44:52
had found that more than half of teens lied about
44:55
their ages on the quest to headset document show. The
44:59
researcher planned an international survey to determine which date of
45:02
parents and teens would be comfortable providing to verify their age.
45:07
The project was codenamed Project Horton for the doctor Seuth's
45:11
book Horton hears a who in which a character tries
45:14
to protect small people from others who attempt to harm them.
45:17
According to the youth researcher, she said, the project was
45:21
approved with a one million dollar budget that December. However,
45:25
a META lawyer said the study needed additional review by
45:28
senior leaders. According to the youth researcher, then on the
45:32
day before the holiday break, the project was canceled. She
45:35
said her boss cited budget issues. The researcher said never
45:40
told the Post that leaders of the Reality Labs research
45:43
team decided not to move forward with Project Horton because
45:46
the company was already developing parental control tools and the
45:50
initiative that asked headset users to confirm their ages by
45:53
entering their birth date. Soon after, the lawyer working with
45:57
the VR research team shared with him a lengthy memory
46:00
from the legal team describing how researchers should engage with
46:03
lawyers when studying sensitive matters, including those involving children and teens.
46:08
The January twenty twenty three memo advised that work might
46:12
be needed to be conducted under attorney client privilege if
46:15
the results might pose heightened regulatory, legal, or media risk.
46:20
The memo also directed Reality Labs researchers to carefully consider
46:24
whether survey questions were likely to generate sensitive responses, such
46:28
as negative experiences or safety concerns that had caused people
46:32
to quit a device or gain. If it is likely
46:36
that the study may elicit sensitive responses, it may be
46:39
necessary to reframe your questions to avoid unnecessary collection of
46:43
sensitive information, or to flag the study for heightened scrutiny
46:47
by managers or lawyers. Said the memo, which was included
46:50
in the documents submitted to Congress. Meta declined to make
46:54
the lawyer available for an interview, and she did not
46:57
respond to a direct request for comment. For particularly sensitive research,
47:02
Meta turned to outside vendors, according to the twenty twenty
47:06
three memo, In a January twenty seven, twenty twenty three
47:10
meeting to discuss the study on young META users misrepresenting
47:13
their ages, the lawyer assigned to the VR research team
47:17
so that one such contractor should emphasize to study participants
47:21
that they should not share personal stories of harm. According
47:24
to the youth researcher's notes from the meeting, which were
47:27
among the documents sent to Congress, the lawyer also said
47:31
that before setting a written report about the data to Meta,
47:34
the contractor should show it to her by sharing their
47:37
screen on a video call, according to the researcher's notes.
47:42
In March twenty twenty three, Meta promoted new company wide
47:45
requirements for approving research into social issues. Documents show An
47:50
internal FAQ explaining the changes said the company's culture of
47:55
openness must now be balanced against the risks that naturally
47:58
stem from conducting and sharing research on sensitive topics and populations.
48:03
Meta told the Post that the changes were meant to
48:06
ensure that research projects are accurate and findings are incorporated
48:10
into the company's product decisions. In April of that year,
48:15
Meta announced that Horizon Worlds would soon be available to
48:18
users as young as thirteen. Two weeks later, the FTC
48:22
took action arguing that Meta had violated Kappa and put
48:27
young users at risk by misleading parents about their control
48:30
over whom their children could chat with on a messaging app.
48:33
The FTC sought to ban Meta from profiting from data
48:36
it collects from users under eighteen, including through its virtual
48:40
reality products. Meta denied the allegations and fought the action
48:44
in federal court, arguing that the FTC was exceeding its
48:48
authority and was biased against the company. The FTC agreed
48:52
to pause its enforcement efforts while litigation is penning. The FTC,
48:57
which is barred by federal law from disclosed in corporate
49:00
secrets and many details of its ongoing investigations, released a
49:05
heavily redacted findings of fact from its inquiry into Meta.
49:09
A three and a half page section of the one
49:11
hundred sixty three page document containing allegations relating to the
49:15
our headsets was mostly blacked out. A corresponding section in
49:18
Meta's six hundred sixty one page response was also largely redacted.
49:24
Neither the FTC nor Meta responded to requests for comment
49:27
on the agency's enforcement action or the subsequent litigation. Amidas
49:32
regulatory battle with the FTC. The company offered Tween accounts
49:36
for its head sets the objective of Project Sausa in
49:40
September twenty twenty three. When users were asked to confirm
49:44
their age, only forty one percent gave the same date
49:47
of birth they had previously submitted. According to an analysis
49:50
that is part of the document trove, these findings show
49:54
that many users may be unwilling to provide us with
49:56
their true d B, the analysis said, Matta told the
50:01
post that it requires users to verify their age with
50:04
an ID or credit card if it suspects that they
50:06
are lying, and that it created a tool to help
50:09
third party VIAR developers understand their user's ages. In twenty
50:14
twenty three, the User experience researcher wrote the lawyer assigned
50:18
to the VR research team that parents kept mentioning during
50:22
surveys that their children were using family headsets to access
50:25
virtual reality according to the documents submitted to Congress. Maybe
50:30
I can take a look and help you strategize a
50:33
way to frame it so as to avoid these types
50:35
of responses, she replied in a direct message. Because of
50:39
the FTC investigation, the researcher could not legally delete data
50:43
that he had already collected. The lawyer wrote, in general,
50:47
the context is that we should avoid collection of research
50:50
data that indicates there are you thirteens present in VR
50:54
or in VR apps or U eighteen currently in the
50:57
context of horizons, due to regular TIS concerns, she added.
51:02
In his affidavit submitted to Congress, the researcher wrote that
51:05
he thought he was being told to avoid gathering data
51:08
that could implicate the company in future engagements with regulators.
51:13
Meta said that characterization was inaccurate and that the lawyer
51:17
was trying to help the researcher achieve the approved objective
51:20
of his study, which did not involve collecting information about
51:24
users under thirteen. The company said she gave similar advice
51:28
for the same reason the following year, when the same
51:31
user experience researcher came to her with a question about
51:34
a different product. The lawyer advised him to shape questions
51:37
to avoid eliciting data on child users of metas VR technology.
51:42
According to a copy of their messages, I would just
51:44
phrase it in a way to ensure that participants do
51:47
not volunteer information about users under thirteen, the lawyer wrote.
51:52
The lawyer also checked with the researcher to see whether
51:54
he had directly astrodouts whether their children used metaviar devices.
52:00
Said he had not. Okay, that's great, she replied. Our
52:04
next article is entitled can sea waters save parched places?
52:09
Countries like Morocco see desalinization as a lifeline, but it
52:14
has a cost. By Chico Harland and Nada Talby from Nuira, Morocco.
52:21
The drought has held its grip for seven years and counting.
52:24
Scorched vegetation crinkles underfoot. The color has drained almost entirely
52:30
from Morocco's agricultural heartland, with one exception inside vast mesh
52:35
covered agricultural enclosures where lush tomatoes grow on vines destined
52:40
for supermarkets in Europe. These man made oases are being
52:43
sustained not by rainfall, but by sea water, filtered of
52:47
salt and piped in from a plant on the coast.
52:51
For decades, the process, known as desalination, had been the
52:54
purview of the oil rich Persian Gulf, but as droughts intensify,
52:59
it is boosing is a last ditch solution for countries
53:02
that had once depended on and built civilizations with natural rainfall.
53:07
The coastal plant here, the first in a wave of megaprojects,
53:11
is Morocco's bet that desalination can help preserve a way
53:14
of life, including water hungry activities like large scale agriculture.
53:20
The most important lesson here there is a solution to
53:23
facing climate change. Sityik Hamane, the CEO of Morocco's state
53:28
run water utility. The idea of desalination has long been seductive,
53:33
as it involves harnessing the biggest research on the planet
53:37
the world's oceans. Recent cost reductions have only heightened an
53:41
outlook popular in tech circles that the technology can help
53:45
humans overcome the water shortages that are becoming more acute
53:48
as the planet warms. Elon Musk said last year that
53:51
desalination could turn any part of the world green, including
53:55
the entire world, but critics say it is an imperfect life.
54:01
The process pollutes waters by discharging brine, an ultra salting
54:05
extract that is dumped back into the sea, and can
54:08
increase water temperatures. Desalination also requires significant energy and yields
54:14
greenhouse gas emissions if powered by fossil fuels. The International
54:18
Energy Agency says global energy demand for water desalination has
54:22
nearly doubled since twenty ten and is poised to double
54:26
again by twenty thirty. The rise in electricity demand is
54:30
on par with a predicted increase stemming from data centers.
54:34
Everybody loves the idea of a silver bullet, said Peter Glike,
54:38
co founder of the Pacific Institute and a scientist who
54:40
studies water resources, but desalination has a lot of problems.
54:45
A Washington Post analysis of global projects based on data
54:49
provided by industry Trekker Global Water Intelligence shows how desalination
54:54
is spreading in new and increasingly water scarce parts of
54:57
the world. Among plants currently online, sixty five are the
55:01
one hundred largest are in the Persian Gulf region, particularly
55:04
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but the geographic
55:08
balance swings with new projects whose scale will exceed those
55:12
already in existence. Of the one hundred largest plants planned
55:17
or in the works, sixty three are outside the Persian Gulf,
55:21
often in nations that lack the same resources and development.
55:26
If you have no water is a cost of desalination,
55:29
a high price to pay, said Shannon McCarthy, the executive
55:32
director of the International Desalination and Reuse Association and industry
55:37
group Water is Everything. Algeria is planning nine of these
55:41
large scale plants, according to the data. Egypt has three
55:45
in the pipeline. A rock facing the historic decline of
55:49
its once mighty river system in July, signed contracts to
55:52
build one of the world's largest facilities. Jordan, one of
55:56
the most water stressed countries on Earth, is planning not
56:00
only a mega plant, but also a two hundred and
56:03
fifty mile pipeline that would bring desalinated drinking water to
56:07
its capital. And then there's Morocco, where water from rain
56:11
and snow melt has decreased steadily over the decades and
56:15
where some of the largest dams are critically low levels.
56:18
King Mohammad the six last year called on the country
56:21
to accelerate its desalination plans. By twenty thirty one, Morocco
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will have four of the ten largest facilities on earth.
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It will be very helpful to maintain life and also
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the agriculture sector, Morocco's Water Minister, Nizir Baraka said in
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an interview. Two of the future plants will help supply
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water directly to farms. Others are intended solely to provide
56:45
drinking water to cities and will increase the overall capacity,
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leaving more natural water sources for agriculture. Some of the
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country's most economically crucial farms have already directly benefited since
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the twenty twenty two inauguration of a plant near the
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city of Agadeer. The facility reserves about fifty five percent
57:05
of its water for the drinking needs of one point
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six million people. The rest is dispatched through an intricate
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network of pipes toward the parched plain responsible for most
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of Morocco's vegetable exports. Eventually, the water reaches the hangar
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size enclosures, some guarded by security, where trickles irrigate tomato
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plants nestled in plastic lined beds of imported mulch. The tomatoes,
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once picked, then move on to packaging facilities like the
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one belonging to Caram Green Augrey, one of Morocco's largest exporters.
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One recent afternoon, during a tour of the facility, manager
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Ali Orumdon drew back the window shades of a conference room,
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giving an overhead view of the busy packaging floor. Tomatoes
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rattle down conveyor belts. Yellow uniformed workers sorted them by
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size and color. Forklss hoisted pallets of packaged tomatoes marked
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with labels like TESCO Little amid the drought, surrounded by
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a landscape of sand Ortumndan said desalination had helped push
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Cottam Green Augrey's exports to their highest level yet a
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record year. He said, due to the constraints of time,
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we will be unable to complete this item. This concludes
58:19
the readings of the Washington Post for to Day Tuesday,
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September ninth, twenty twenty five. Your reader for to Day
58:25
has been Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments,
58:29
or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
58:33
us at eight five nine four two two sixty nine zero.
58:36
Thank you for listening, and now please stay tuned for
58:39
continued programming on Radio I