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Fears Of Hezbollah Threats Persist In Northern Israel; Lebanon Begins Recovery As New Truce Holds; Key Trump Picks Targeted With Bomb Threats And Swatting; Putin Emboldened As Army Advances On Nearly All Front Lines; Biden Administration Renews Focus On Ceasefire-Hostage Release Deal; Elon Musk Reposts Personal Information On Government Workers; Australia Close To Banning Social Media For Kids Under 16. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 28, 2024 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:59:51]

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.

As the Lebanon ceasefire continues to hold, many residents are skeptical about the safety of returning to northern Israel.

[00:00:03]

At least nine of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's picks to be part of his second administration are targeted with bomb threats and swatting calls. And Russia makes gains against Ukraine with Moscow essentially telling the Biden administration, you lost.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Anna Coren.

COREN: We begin in Lebanon, where the country's army is ramping up its presence in the south and being welcomed with open arms by residents weary after months of war.

Well, people celebrated as a convoy arrived in this southern town on Wednesday, the first day of the ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Officials say the truce appears to be largely holding.

Well, since then thousands of people have started returning to their homes in Lebanon's south and U.N. aid trucks are also on the move. Israel is still warning residents it's not safe to return yet, as its military is still deployed in the area and some places remained under evacuation orders. The Lebanese prime minister says now the process of healing and rebuilding will begin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAJIB MIKATI, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It is a new day, concluding one of the most difficult stages of suffering that the Lebanese have experienced in their modern history.

Today begins the thousand-mile road to reconstruct what was destroyed and to continue to strengthen the role of the legitimate institutions led by the military, who we place great hopes in to enforce authority over the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, meantime, some residents of Israel's northern border communities are not ready to return to their homes just yet.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: So you're back in Shtula with all the dogs.

ORI ELIYAHU, SHTULA, ISRAEL RESIDENT: Yes. I am at home. It's not really home at the home but.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Ori Eliyahu is one of just a handful of residents living in this Israeli community along the Lebanese border. But he's not back because he thinks it's safe.

ELIYAHU: So basically not -- it's not just that this is Lebanon, Jabal Daka, you see there in the mountain?

DIAMOND: Yes.

ELIYAHU: Those houses are Hezbollah's houses. They are shooting missiles from there.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The new ceasefire agreement means Hezbollah must withdraw from this area about 25 miles north of the Israeli border. But like many others in northern Israel, Pro doesn't trust Hezbollah nor the Israeli government's assurances that it will prevent Hezbollah from regrouping.

On the first day of this new ceasefire, Shtula is just as much of a ghost town as when we visited over the summer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go quick.

DIAMOND: Back then, the Israeli military gave us just three minutes to see homes struck by anti-tank missiles, fearing Hezbollah could strike again. Today overlooking that same view standing along that same devastated home, that threat seems further away. But for how long?

Your fear is that this agreement won't prevent this from happening again.

ELIYAHU: You're saying it's a fear. It's not fear. It's a fact. Here in the Middle East, this is how we go. This is how this thing works. If a terrorist can shoot you, he'll shoot you.

DIAMOND (voice-over): He says his neighbors among the roughly 60,000 Israelis displaced from the north don't feel safe enough to return.

ELIYAHU: They won't do it. We are speaking about it all the time, in the WhatsApp group and in the phone, anywhere, everywhere. They want -- they are not stupid.

DIAMOND: Just down the road Ora Hatan is enjoying her first peaceful day in more than a year.

ORA HATAN, SHTULA, ISRAEL RESIDENT: We wake up to the quiet morning after one year. It's unusual.

DIAMOND: She too is skeptical that the ceasefire will lead to a lasting peace, but she doesn't see an alternative.

HATAN: I spoke with the soldiers. They're tired. They exhaust. Also what another option would there, to arrive to Beirut?

DIAMOND: On the Lebanese side of the border many civilians were quick to return to southern Lebanon.

Yes, thank God. I'm happy of course. We're going back to our hometown, to our land.

The Lebanese military also headed south, expected to monitor Hezbollah activity as a fragile truce takes hold.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Shtula, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, let's now go live to Beirut, Lebanon, with Ettie Higgins, deputy executive director of UNICEF.

Ettie, thank you for joining us. As people return to their shattered neighborhoods around Beirut explain to us what they're finding, the extent of the devastation, and of course how they are feeling.

[00:05:00]

ETTIE HIGGINS, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF: Good morning, Anna. Indeed, we saw very touching scenes here in Beirut and across the country as families return to their villages and their times (INAUDIBLE) yesterday. Some of them are just beginning the journey. Others have decided to wait a few days. And the calls that we're getting back from communities and families returning, and what UNICEF teams have found on the ground is that there is massive and wide scale destruction and that rebuilding will be a huge task that is going to require many, many years and a lot of significant investment and support from the international community.

We've seen yesterday more -- a lot of water systems that have been destroyed so families calling us for support for water. We've also seen schools, some schools that have been damaged and in addition, healthcare facilities, more than 100 healthcare facilities and 40 hospitals have either been destroyed or have been significantly damaged and put out of operation. And this has really impacted more than 400,000 children across the country.

Other families have told us that they returned and there was nothing left at all of their homes, and they're actually continuing now to look for shelters to stay and returning to some of the shelters given the level of destruction in communities where we've seen dozens and dozens -- in some villages, dozens and dozens of huge multi-story buildings that have been completely flattened.

COREN: Yes.

HIGGINS: Others are standing carelessly and unsafe to return.

COREN: If I can just jump in, I mean, you talk about this wide scale destruction. We're looking at those pictures. But, you know, this is expected to run into the billions, the reconstruction of parts of Lebanon. Who is going to fund it? And where do they begin?

HIGGINS: Indeed. Well, as we know, that ceasefires in Lebanon are very, very fragile, and that history tells us that. And when the international community does not step forward to support Lebanon at this time, and Lebanon's government, for example, we're working very closely with the Ministry of Health, with the Ministry of Education and with the Ministry of Water and Energy to reestablish these systems so that families can safely return.

And it will require significant investment from the international community. We've seen the destruction of and airstrikes have hit at least 35 main water pumping stations, cutting off water to half a million people, for example. So of course, families cannot return having had their homes and livelihoods, their farms totally destroyed. So for peace and stability to return to Lebanon and for the protection of children in the country, it's absolutely vital that we support Lebanon on this journey to healing and recovery.

And it's most essential for the children who have suffered so much in this conflict. We've seen over 240 children, for example, that have been killed, while thousands more have been injured, and this will require years of healing and investment from the community to support families.

COREN: Ettie, tell us about how people are feeling, you know, the confidence amongst the population as to whether or not this ceasefire will hold.

HIGGINS: Well, there is great joy and scenes of jubilation that we've seen yesterday as families returned. But there is a cautious optimism. But also there is a level of just despair amongst many of the families that we spoke to yesterday. One woman that I spoke to, she had just returned to her village in the south and told us that in fact many -- the water wasn't working. They were looking to put in a new water tank.

So there was a level of despair at a time when Lebanon had suffered a massive economic crisis over the last number of years, and families have, many of them have already been made absolutely destitute. And so this is a time now where we need to step forward and really support and show solidarity for the Lebanese community and for the internal stability of the country, as well, because what happens in Lebanon does have regional implications given that Lebanon is continuing to host over a million Syrian refugees also, putting a huge strain on the government services.

COREN: Ettie, tell us your priorities certainly for UNICEF and other human rights organizations on the ground.

HIGGINS: Well, our priority now is to support families that want to return but it's for, as I said, the construction and rehabilitation particularly of schools. More than two million children have had their education interrupted. We see hundreds of thousands of children that are out of school. So 700 public schools have been turned into shelters to house the people who had been displaced from the crisis. Over 1.2 million had been displaced.

[00:10:01]

So to support these families to return, to support children to return to an education, and of course, to support, as I said, the water and waste and electric systems, but also to make sure that families are safe when they return. Many told us how there is unexploded ordnance in their neighborhoods because of the huge amount of airstrikes that had hit homes across the country. So to make sure that these locations are made safe as well as a key priority of UNICEF's and of the U.N. sister agencies that are here on the ground, as well as health systems.

Many children have missed out on vital vaccinations, for example, so that is also a priority. But many families and children have also lost siblings, have lost parents, so to support children on their road to healing for the country is vital to long term protection and having those systems set in place.

COREN: Yes. All right, Ettie Higgins, we thank you for joining us and appreciate the work that you're doing on the ground. We wish you the very best.

HIGGINS: Thank you.

COREN: Well, meantime, after the Israel-Hezbollah deal, the Biden administration says it will push for a ceasefire in Gaza. But so far, there's no end in sight to the war there. And officials say Israeli airstrikes are again targeting schools sheltering displaced people.

The Health Ministry in the enclave says at least 10 people were killed Wednesday when a strike targeted the Al-Tabiin School in the eastern part of Gaza City. It's the same compound where dozens were killed in August. The Israel Defense Forces says it was targeting a senior Hamas official.

There were also reports of another deadly Israeli attack on a school turned shelter on Tuesday. The head of Gaza's civil defense described the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAED DAHSHAN, HEAD OF THE CIVIL DEFENSE IN GAZA (through translator): This school, which houses civilians, was directly targeted a number of martyrs have been transported and civil defense teams are still at this moment carrying out evacuation and rescue operations for the injured at the site. They're working to move civilians away from the area and manage the ongoing situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: And in northern Gaza the IDF says troops raided a school in Beit Lahiya, where it says Hamas fighters had been operating. It says dozens of militants were apprehended and taken for further questioning. Hamas has condemned the attack.

We're also tracking the first major flare-up in years between Syrian rebels and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime forces. A Free Syrian Army source and local residents say rebels launched a largescale attack in western Aleppo on Wednesday. In a statement, opposition factions say 13 villages in the largest Syrian regime base in the area was seized and dozens killed, and the incident was in response to recent artillery shelling from regime forces.

Well, a growing number of Donald Trump's cabinet picks have been targeted this week by bomb threats and so-called swatting incidents. A source says Trump's choice for Commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, is the latest known victim, while others threatened include Pete Hegseth, who Trump tapped for Defense secretary, would-be U.N. ambassador Elise Stefanik, and even former attorney general hopeful Matt Gaetz.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has a closer look at the threats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Some potential members of Donald Trump's new government facing threats in a series of incidents that took place at their homes this week. A spokeswoman for the Trump transition said several potential nominees were targeted in violent, un-American threats ranging from bomb threats to so-called swatting incidents when police are summoned under the hoax of some type of criminal threat at a particular address. The FBI and local law enforcement officials are investigating.

Now several top officials were targeted, including Pete Hegseth, Trumps choice for Defense secretary. He said Wednesday night his Tennessee home was the target of a pipe bomb threat. Others include John Ratcliffe, who was tapped to lead the CIA, Elise Stefanik selected for U.N. ambassador, and Lee Zeldin chosen to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Now the FBI has said it takes all potential threats seriously. But one law enforcement official who's familiar with these incidents and investigations told CNN these types of swatting calls are quite common and often target those people who are in the news at any given time.

Now President Biden was briefed on these threats. A White House spokesman said the president and the administration condemns all threats of political violence. It's unclear if all these incidents were linked and how credible these threats actually were. But the timing suggests some type of coordination heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, joining us now CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.

John, as always, great to see you. Tell us what more do you know about these threats, how credible are they, and who have they targeted?

[00:15:02]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, they've targeted just about everybody who has been mentioned as a key important nominee to the Trump cabinet. But they are not particularly credible. These threats, which came all at once said there are pipe bombs. There, you know, guns. There are things, some of them were bomb threats.

Some of them were what we call swatting calls which are carefully constructed to make the police come with a SWAT team, thinking that there are armed people present which can be very dangerous, especially since police don't know when they're going that it's a fake call. But it's a pattern of threats that came together, either from one person, one group of people, or maybe some who saw the threat and decided to copy it.

But I think the key is to keep the threats in perspective. They have a specific purpose. The purposes are to cause alarm and to cause disruption and to make problems and trouble in the lives of these public officials and those who are about to become public officials.

COREN: I mean, this is clearly all under investigation, but any idea as to who made these threats?

MILLER: Well, the investigation will be handled with a combination of local law enforcement and the FBI. The FBI has a lot of experience in this realm. And sometimes what you see is foreign actors, sometimes foreign government actors, but more often what you see is groups of relatively young people, oftentimes they are gamers and that part of the game is whoever loses the video game or online activity that they're playing has to go do the threat and prove that they did it.

So you have a number of possibilities here. A lot of the times these things emanate outside the United States but sometimes they emanate from an IP address that is spoofed to appear to be coming from outside the country. So the FBI is going to have to go through a lot of layers and hopefully from their standpoint look for that mistake where somebody slipped up and left them a clue that is going to bring them to one or more suspects here.

And Anna, I mean, while threats are not credible and that's a good thing, the crime is very serious. Some of these are elected officials. Some of these are government officials, and some of them are about to become government officials. But using interstate commerce to threaten an elected official or a government official is considered a serious crime that you can do serious jail time for if you're identified.

COREN: We heard from former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe and he said he's not surprised by these threats. Do you feel that this is an indication, perhaps, of what we are going to see more of over the next four years, considering this highly, you know, charged and polarized political environment that that we are now living in?

MILLER: Well, and we have been living in such a brittle political environment for a number of years that swatting, as they call it, the bomb threats, these kinds of threats have become a known part of the territory so I don't know if we're going to see more of it. We're already seeing plenty of it, but I think that people in public life have adjusted to the idea and soon, once these officials are confirmed and in their jobs, they will have the built in protection that comes with those positions. For now, they're getting special attention from police where they live as this investigation unfolds.

COREN: We've heard from these Trump appointees who were threatened. They have praised the FBI and local law enforcement for their swift response. I mean, in the past, Donald Trump has often attacked these departments, especially the FBI. Do you see this as perhaps a reset in relations?

MILLER: Well, I mean, Donald Trump is in the process of shaking up who is going to lead those organizations. The Department of Justice, the FBI, and we are waiting to hear who is going to be placed in the FBI. We expect him to replace the current director. But I mean, Trump has often had a complicated love-hate relationship with law enforcement. You know, he's been charged as the guy who allegedly caused the crowds to storm the Capitol and fight with the Capitol in Washington, D.C. police.

But he is also the person, the candidate, who has said the most supportive things about law enforcement. So this is just another page in that complicated chapter.

COREN: John Miller, always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

MILLER: Thanks, Anna. You got it.

COREN: Well, now to two different takes on a phone call between Trump and Mexican president. On Wednesday, Trump claimed that she, quote, "agreed to stop migration through Mexico and into the U.S., effectively closing our southern border."

[00:20:02]

Well, President Claudia Sheinbaum had posted online that migrant caravans would no longer arrive at the U.S. border because they're being addressed in Mexico. In a later post, she firmly denied Trump's claims that the border itself is closing and reiterated Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.

The phone call came after Trump threatened to slap a 25 percent tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada. He said the move was retaliation for the illegal immigrants, drugs and crime coming and flowing into the U.S.

Well, coming up, Russian troops are making gains against Ukraine on nearly every front and embolden Russian leaders are now taunting the U.S. And the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court wants an arrest warrant for Myanmar's military leader for crimes against the Rohingya.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg. And sources tell CNN that Kellogg already has ideas about what to do to end nearly three years of fighting in Ukraine. Kellogg's plan would require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia in exchange for continued U.S. military aid.

It also calls for a, quote, "formal U.S. policy to seek a ceasefire and negotiated settlement of the Ukraine conflict." And it would put Ukraine's efforts to join NATO on hold. Well, Trump's future national security adviser Mike Wallace, is said to be weighing that proposal, along with several others.

Well, this comes as Russia is gaining momentum on the battlefield against Ukraine.

Fred Pleitgen has those details from Moscow Vladimir.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Vladimir Putin's army advancing on nearly all frontlines, inside Ukraine but also as they try to expel Kyiv's troops from the Kursk region in Russia.

We fought for this area for almost three months, this Russian marine says. Thanks to the assault groups of the 810th Brigade, we knocked out these Ukrainian servicemen.

Moscow emboldened, now flat-out telling the Biden administration, face it, you lost.

The West should hear all this, rethink it, come to their senses and admit they lost. They failed to achieve the goals of containing Russia's development. They were unable to defeat Russia. geopolitically, the speaker of Russia's Senate says.

Moscow is still fuming after the White House gave Kyiv the go ahead to use U.S. supplied longer distance weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

We understand the reaction of the embittered, frustrated Washington regime under the leadership of Biden, which lost the election which did not receive support for its domestic and foreign policies from its own citizens, she says.

[00:25:12] We must understand that in agony they are capable of continuing to take the most reckless steps.

The Russians claim they are not the ones escalating even after striking Ukraine with a new hypersonic multiple warhead ballistic missile and now publishing these graphics saying that missile could also carry a 900-kiloton nuclear warhead and reach NATO bases in Europe in a few minutes.

On Red Square, people telling us they want de-escalation but support their leadership.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to defend ourselves because if America and Europe and other countries will give Ukraine all the weapons and all the resources they have, how can we live there?

PLEITGEN: Of course, it's a dangerous time, this man says. You know, I won't display a second cheek if I was already slapped on the other. You have to fight for your righteousness and kindness.

Tonight, Putin arriving in Kazakhstan for a two-day visit, also including a major security conference. Greeted with full military honors as countries in the region increasingly see Russia growing more influential on the road to a possible victory in Ukraine.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has asked for an arrest warrant for Myanmar's military leader for crimes committed against the country's Rohingya minority. Min Aung Hlaing has been Myanmar's ruler since a military coup in 2021. The ICC chief prosecutor says he's criminally responsible for deporting and persecuting Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh. More than one million were forcibly displaced according to the ICC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARIM KHAN, ICC PROSECUTOR: This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official that my office is filing. More will follow. Today's application is the outcome of an independent and impartial investigation based upon a wide variety of evidence from numerous sources, such as witness testimonies, including from insider witnesses and authenticated, credible photographic and video materials.

Today marks a culmination of this stage of our work. We will continue to focus in the coming weeks and months as we seek to submit additional applications in this situation. In doing so we will seek to show that the Rohingya have not been forgotten, that they, like all people around the world, deserve and are entitled to the protection of the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: The request must be approved by ICC judges before it can be enacted.

Well, there's much more to come on CNN. We'll tell you why U.S. federal government employees are now worried about becoming an online target of the world's richest man. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: Welcome back. More now on the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that is now in its second day. Iran says it, quote, "welcomed the news of cessation of Israeli onslaught in Lebanon."

[00:30:59]

The foreign ministry statement added, quote, "The Palestinian and Lebanese resistance is more determined than ever to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian and Lebanese people."

Thousands of people are already returning home to Southern Lebanon.

Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the truce would also allow Israel to focus on Iran. Here's Iran's foreign minister's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, if the Israeli regime wants to have more concentrate on Iran, they can try it. They had tried it in the past. They know our capabilities. They know how we can defend ourselves.

But I have to emphasize that, contrary to Israelis, we don't want escalation in the region. We don't want war. Of course, we are prepared for a war, even a full-scale war. But this is not our wish. This is not our choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: The Israel-Hezbollah deal is giving the White House hope a similar outcome can be achieved in Gaza.

The Biden administration is making renewed efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. Well, CNN's Arlette Saenz has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden has made clear he wants to use his final months in office to focus on securing a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, but many questions remain for the administration about whether they can actually make this a reality.

SAENZ (voice-over): National security adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday said that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon could provide a fresh opportunity for those talks in Gaza. Senior administration officials have hoped that that Lebanon ceasefire

deal would push Hamas back to the negotiating table. Here is how Sullivan characterized it on CNN.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Since the beginning of this conflict, Hezbollah linked its fight against Israel to the fight that Hamas was having with Israel from Gaza. And it said, we won't stop until the -- the war in Gaza ends.

That link has now been broken, which means Hamas is isolated. Hamas is now under pressure. And all eyes, not just from the U.S. and Israel, but the rest of the world, are going to turn to Hamas.

And so, there is now newfound opportunity and possibility to drive forward a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

SAENZ: Sullivan said he wouldn't make any predictions about how and when these hostage talks could come to fruition.

SAENZ (voice-over): But the Middle East coordinator for the White House, Brett McGurk, was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, talking to various parties about not just the Lebanon ceasefire deal, but also how that deal could potentially shake loose some of the negotiations relating to Gaza.

Now, President Biden has spent the last 14 months trying to secure this hostage release deal, as four Americans are still believed to be held alive by Hamas in Gaza.

And in his remarks in the Rose Garden, the president said that he does believe that peace is possible not just in Gaza, but also efforts to potentially normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

SAENZ: Two things that could be really major legacy-defining moments for President Biden if he is able to accomplish that before he leaves office.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, many federal employees are concerned about Trump's promises to cut the U.S. government workforce. Well, now they're also worried about becoming targets.

That's after Elon Musk posted items that revealed personal information about four obscure federal employees who have since been barraged with negative attention.

CNN's Hadas Gold has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: -- reposted several posts from an anonymous account that was looking at a database of federal employees and questioning some of the roles that some of these people held.

GOLD (voice-over): Now, Elon Musk, when reposting them, these screenshots included the names, the titles and the city of these federal government employees.

Now, some of their titles are things like "director of climate diversification," "senior adviser on environmental justice and climate change."

[00:35:07]

And in one of his reposts, Musk commented, "So many fake jobs."

GOLD: But whatever one may think of these jobs and whether they are worth it to have in federal government, all of the people that were listed are in relatively unknown bureaucratic government roles, and they are relatively private people. None of them have public-facing positions.

And these posts by Elon Musk, or amplified by Elon Musk, they have now been viewed tens of millions of times. And people are leaving a torrent of negative comments, some of them calling out these employees directly by name.

Now, we've reached out to these employees. They've either declined to comment or were unable to be reached. But we know that at least one of them removed all of her social media accounts, likely as a result of this targeting.

And we've been in touch with other people --

GOLD (voice-over): -- who have been targeted by Elon Musk in the past. He has done this before with people he thinks that have wronged him or have been critical of him, or he believes might be in the way of the progress of his companies.

And they said to me that, when they were targeted by him, they ended up getting threats from others. Sometimes these were death threats.

GOLD: Sometimes they had to leave their homes. Some of them even moved permanently. And that is a fear that a lot of federal employees now have, that in this effort to try and make the government more efficient, which some federal employees actually support the idea of, that this might be something that may happen; that Elon Musk may post the names, may post titles like this in a way that could actually lead to threats to the safety of these federal employees.

GOLD (voice-over): Now, we have a statement from the president of the union that represents federal government employees. And he said, "These tactics are aimed at sowing terror and fear at federal employees. It's intended to make them fearful that they will become afraid to speak up."

GOLD: Now, what's interesting, in the process of reporting this, I reached out to several experts on cyber harassment and online abuse. And several of them actually didn't want to speak to me on the record using their names, because they themselves were fearful of becoming Elon Musk's latest target.

We reached out for -- to X for comment, trying to seek a comment from Elon Musk. They did not respond.

But our colleague Rene Marsh did speak --

GOLD (voice-over): -- to Vivek Ramaswamy, who is, of course, co- leading this effort on efficiency with Elon Musk. And he said, "Our opponent is not any particular individual. Our opponent is the bureaucracy."

GOLD: But of course, that will be of little comfort to those four individuals who were in those posts that Elon Musk amplified.

Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Australia has been pushing to make social media off-limits for anyone under 16. Still ahead, why many Australians believe a blanket ban is the safest option for kids.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: Australia is one step closer to banning social media for anyone under 16. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported one of the world's toughest social media bills, but it still needs approval from the Senate, which is now holding its final session of the parliamentary year.

[00:40:04]

Hanako Montgomery explains why the proposal has a strong backing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For all the positive connections, the joy social media can create, it can also quickly strip it away, destroy it forever.

KELLY O'BRIEN, MOTHER OF CHARLOTTE O'BRIEN: I will miss your hugs, your kisses, your laugh, your beautiful, beautiful smile.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): In September, 12-year-old Australian girl Charlotte O'Brien took her own life after years of being bullied on social media.

Her parents quickly joined a political fight to protect children from online harm. The Australian government says the best way to do that is to ban anyone under 16 from using social media.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Social media is doing social harm to our young Australians, and I am calling time on it.

The safety and mental health of our young people has to be a priority. MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Under new legislation introduced to Australia's Parliament, there would be consequences for social media companies caught systematically breaching the age restriction and other safety measures.

Fines reaching tens of millions of dollars.

But children or parents won't be punished for breaking the new rules. Instead, the government says the ban will help moms and dads to say no to young people who want to stay online.

BEN KIOKO, 14-YEAR-OLD SOCIAL MEDIA USER: Yes, so being autistic, I have a really, really hard time connecting with others. And, you know, doing that online makes it a lot easier.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Some experts, too, say that a catch-all approach may not be helpful.

JUSTINE HUMPHREY, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: Even though the age is really fundamentally important that we need to get right, what we're talking about when we say we're going to introduce a ban by age, is that it negates the fact that young people have very, very different levels of maturity.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): But advocates of the ban point to age limits on alcohol, gambling, and smoking, arguing social media can be equally damaging for those too young to use it.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN.

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COREN: Thank you for your company. I'm Anna Coren. I'll be back at the top of the hour. WORLD SPORT is next.

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