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CNN This Morning
Today: Supreme Court Case Tests Power Of Social Media Companies; Deadly Aftershocks Strike Turkey Two Weeks After Historic Quake; Alligator Kills 85-Year-Old Woman In Florida Neighborhood. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired February 21, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:31:27]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.
In just a few hours the Supreme Court will hear a case that could change how the internet is regulated and the responsibility of social media giants. The justices will hear arguments over whether those tech companies can be sued civilly for promoting content posted by others. This is all about Section 230.
Jessica Schneider, I think it's confusing for a lot of people but this case and this family -- the petitioners -- really bring it home for folks.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they do, and they are putting the human spin on this, Poppy. But tech companies are really bracing for this showdown at the Supreme Court. This will be a first-of-its-kind case. The justices will be deciding if the family of this American student killed in the 2015 Paris terror attacks can sue YouTube's parent company Google because of the algorithms it used that the family says promoted terrorist content online.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEATRIZ GONZALEZ, SUING GOOGLE, DAUGHTER KILLED IN 2015 ISIS ATTACK: We continue in this fight because we are seeking justice.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The Gonzalez family's long legal fight started when their 23-year-old daughter Nohemi was killed in Paris in 2015. Nohemi Gonzalez was at a bistro when ISIS terrorists unleashed gunfire, part of a coordinated city-wide attack of bombings and shootings that killed 129 people. She was the only American.
GONZALEZ: It was a terrible, horrible moment in my life that I cannot describe the pain.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The Gonzalez family now wants YouTube and parent company Google to be held liable for Nohemi's death. They have lost in the lower courts but the Supreme Court agreed to hear their appeal. And their lawyers will now try to convince the nine justices that YouTube's algorithms promoted ISIS-affiliated videos to certain viewers and that is how ISIS recruited and enlisted support.
NITSANA LEITNER, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY SUING GOOGLE: Instead of terminating these videos -- instead of eliminating them -- instead of deleting them they promoted them.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): But Google says they aren't responsible given the broad protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Congress passed the law in 1996 to shield internet platforms from being sued for harmful content posted by third parties on their sites.
Google argues its algorithms recommending content are what make it possible to find the needles in humanity's largest haystack, warning that if Section 230 does not apply to how websites sort content the internet would devolve into a disorganized mess and a litigation minefield.
There is no evidence the Paris attackers were specifically radicalized on YouTube but Nohemi's parents still allege YouTube aided and abetted ISIS and should not be able to hide behind Section 230.
JOSE HERNANDEZ, SUING GOOGLE, DAUGHTER KILLED IN 2015 ISIS ATTACK: They should stop it. They have the power to do it.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): This will be the first time the Supreme Court has considered the scope of Section 230 and the extent to which it protects social media companies.
The push to reform Section 230 is widespread. Last month, President Biden penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal calling for modifications. And Republicans have repeatedly blasted big tech for what they call alleged censorship of conservative ideas.
The Gonzalez family, though, just wants justice for the death of their daughter at the hands of ISIS-linked terrorists.
GONZALEZ: Nothing is going to give me back my daughter but at least that is something good is going to be accomplished.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: And this isn't the only big case before the court. There will be another challenge heard tomorrow. That will determine if social media companies can be held liable under an anti-terrorism law. That's a case that's actually separate from this Section 230 challenge but, Poppy, it does have similarly potentially massive ramifications.
[07:35:12]
So two big cases really --
HARLOW: Yes.
SCHNEIDER: -- testing the limits of social media.
HARLOW: And Jess, I wonder how likely you think it is the court comes down here in their opinion with a definitive decision on Section 230 because it was just a few years ago that Justice Thomas essentially said it behooves the court to take up a case to finally decide on this 1996 law. But they could find an off-ramp as well and not fully decide.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Several of the justices have talked about the need to really determine the scope of Section 230. The question is whether they step in or whether they determine this is actually Congress' lane --
HARLOW: Right.
SCHNEIDER: -- and whether Congress should be in charge of reforming this law.
HARLOW: And that would be their off-ramp.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
HARLOW: Jess, thank you -- fascinating. We'll watch for the case tomorrow as well.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
HARLOW: Ahead for us, more people near the site of a toxic train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio say they are having health problems. Today the state is opening a health clinic to try to help them.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And in Florida, an alligator has killed an elderly woman. We have all the details coming up next. That is terrifying.
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[07:40:10]
SIDNER: This is just awful. More tragedy in Turkey this morning. Powerful aftershocks have left at least six people dead and hundreds more injured. That is on top of the tens of thousands of people killed and injured. Rescue crews once again looking for survivors in the rubble two weeks after the deadliest earthquake in the region in Turkey and Syria's modern history.
Our Jomana Karadsheh is live at the epicenter of the aftershocks. And I know you felt it. I think you're in Adana now with that beautiful mosque. Tell us what you can about this major aftershock and how large it was.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, a 6.3 really powerful aftershock that struck in and around the city of Antakya. And as you know very well this is a city in an area in this earthquake zone that was the hardest hit by that massive earthquake a couple of weeks ago. And before that aftershock, it was really pretty impossible to find a building in that area that hadn't been impacted by the earthquake. So when you have that powerful 6.3-magnitude aftershock a lot of buildings collapsed.
And as you mentioned, at least six people have been confirmed killed. Hundreds were injured, some of them in critical condition.
And then the search and rescue operations that had really shifted into search and recovery -- last night we saw the search and rescue operations resume. We were at the site of one of those buildings where you had these exhausted rescue and medical crews working for hours and hours to try and save three people who had been trapped underneath the rubble of that building. Unfortunately, they did not make it out alive.
And, Sara, you can imagine the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people across this earthquake zone who have lost their loved ones, lost their homes, lost everything in seconds -- made homeless by that 7.8 earthquake a couple of weeks ago. They were just starting to try and comprehend what they had gone through, trying to deal with the trauma of that earthquake and the loss that came with it.
And then you had that massive 6.3 aftershock last night. And you can imagine what those families, many of them living right now in makeshift shelters, in tents, in the back of their cars -- the kind of fear that they were living through last night reliving that trauma, Sara.
SIDNER: Jomana, such powerful reporting from you throughout this time. Thank you so much for being there and sharing their stories. It is absolutely horrific what has happened in Turkey and Syria because of these quakes and now this aftershock with more death. I just -- I can barely take it.
HARLOW: You were just there.
SIDNER: I was.
HARLOW: And thinking about all of the people that you were with --
SIDNER: Yes.
HARLOW: -- and what they're still going through.
SIDNER: Yes. There were families just sitting outside of rubble waiting in the freezing cold for their loved ones to be pulled out and they haven't found them yet, so --
HARLOW: Our thanks to Jomana for that reporting.
This morning the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, is returning to East Palestine, Ohio after a train full of toxic chemicals derailed there earlier this month. This visit comes as skepticism and anxiety spread in the town of 5,000 people. People in that area have been reporting headaches and nausea, burning eyes, and sore throats ever since this disaster.
You're looking at now live pictures of that. It's a new health clinic that is set to open there today. They will have registered nurses and mental health specialists, and also a toxicologist.
Many officials, including the Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, have demanded accountability and greater safety regulations. Buttigieg has also come under some criticism for his response. He also said he's planning a visit. It's not clear when.
Listen to what he told reporters yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: I am very interested in getting to know the residents of East Palestine and hearing from them about how they've been impacted, and communicating with them about the steps that we are taking. When the time is right I do plan to visit East Palestine. I don't have a date for you right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: And in Florida this morning -- this is kind of everybody's nightmare who lives there -- wildlife officials say the 11-foot alligator removed from this neighborhood pond -- look at that sucker -- killed an elderly woman while she was doing what we dog lovers love to do, taking her dog for a walk.
Let's go to CNN's Leyla Santiago in Miami. What are authorities saying about what happened here?
Well, let's talk about sort of the sequence of events -- what led up to this. We do know, as you said, Sara, this was an 85-year-old woman walking her dog in a community that was for 55 and up.
[07:45:02]
A 911 call came in reporting that alligator bite, and when authorities got out there it was too late for the woman.
Now, the dog is said to have survived. We're still waiting to find out exactly what kind of condition that dog is in this morning.
But you said it. I mean, just take a look at those images. The sheriff telling our affiliate that it's about 11 feet long. The worst nightmare for so many people that deal with or that live near alligators here in Florida. A very common thing. But Fish and Wildlife will be quick to remind you that these type of incidents are rare.
SIDNER: It is terrifying looking at that video with those two people sitting on top of this --
SANTIAGO: Yes.
SIDNER: -- 11-foot gator. And having --
SANTIAGO: Yes.
SIDNER: -- been a Floridian for -- in my --
SANTIAGO: Yes.
SIDNER: -- childhood years, we used to learn -- the first thing we learned when it comes to the water --
SANTIAGO: Yes.
SIDNER: -- and to be safe was to run in a zig-zag pattern if a gator ever chased you.
SANTIAGO: Oh.
SIDNER: They still teach you that around there, Leyla?
SANTIAGO: Yes.
SIDNER: See -- there you go.
SANTIAGO: I've heard that recently, I'll say that.
But you know -- look, I looked up the statistics on this. One-point- three million alligators across the 67 counties, according to --
SIDNER: Wow.
SANTIAGO: -- Fish and Wildlife. So yes, if you are a resident here in Florida chances are at some point you are going to see an alligator --
SIDNER: Yes.
SANTIAGO: -- which is why Fish and Wildlife are constantly putting out those reminders of the safety measures, right. Don't feed the alligators. Make sure to keep your distance. Don't get those pets near the water where you often see those signs that have the alligator with the cross-out, right?
HARLOW: Yes.
SIDNER: Yes.
SANTIAGO: So this is a pretty common thing in Florida and they don't relocate these alligators that are deemed a nuisance because oftentimes, according to Fish and Wildlife, they will try to return to that capture site, Sara and Poppy.
SIDNER: Every time. It is terrifying though -- the thought that a woman has lost her life --
HARLOW: Yes, because of this.
SIDNER: -- just for walking her dog near a pond.
Leyla, thank you so much -- Kaitlan.
SANTIAGO: You bet.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We're here in Warsaw tracking President Biden as he is meeting behind closed doors with Polish President Duda. All of this is coming as the Secretary of State Antony Blinken is now blasting President Putin for what he said just hours ago when he said Russia will suspend cooperation with that nuclear arms treaty.
We have much more of our special coverage live here from Warsaw. That's next.
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[07:51:50]
HARLOW: The housing market could see mortgage rates go higher after they rose last week. We're looking at 3.2 percent on average. A typical single-family homeowner pays $720 more a month for a mortgage compared to a year ago.
With us now, our chief business correspondent Christine Romans. Oh, it's so much more.
SIDNER: Aye.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Six-point-three percent, and when you look at it it's doubled over the past year. And to put it into perspective, $720 more. So a mortgage you have got for a typical family home last year -- this year you buy that same home at the same price, it would be $720 more a month because of --
SIDNER: It's a lot of money.
ROMANS: -- interest. So that typical payment, $1,900 instead of $1,200.
SIDNER: Wow.
ROMANS: So what we're watching here are mortgage rates really tied to inflation expectations. And we've seen how strong the economy is recently, right? And so now wondering if the Fed's going to have to continue to raise interest rates and that's going to mean mortgage rates will stay closer to 6 1/2 percent, certainly, than below six percent.
So that's where we are. A lot of people have a three percent mortgage and they don't want to move.
SIDNER: Yes.
ROMANS: That could -- puts ice on the housing market.
SIDNER: Yes, it's one of those things. My husband found a 1.9.
HARLOW: Wow.
SIDNER: No, I -- it's --
HARLOW: When?
SIDNER: -- crazy. Twenty twenty-one.
HARLOW: OK, yes -- amazing.
ROMANS: That was the heyday. Twenty twenty-one was the heyday.
SIDNER: That was the heyday.
ROMANS: Now we're normalizing.
SIDNER: But here's the thing. This is still historically low, correct? I mean, I remember my grandparents.
HARLOW: Yes.
ROMANS: Yes.
SIDNER: It was like 20 percent --
HARLOW: Me, too -- my parents.
SIDNER: -- roughly.
HARLOW: It was like 12, 15.
SIDNER: It was like 20 percent. It was crazy.
Are there any places where prices are actually falling, though?
ROMANS: So far you still have prices rising although at a slower pace. So four percent in the fourth quarter was the typical increase in home prices.
But we did find some places where prices are falling, and these are in the red-hot markets. These are markets that, like, were up 20 percent year after year after year. So, San Francisco fell a little bit. San Jose fell. Los Angeles, Anaheim -- but just a little bit for some of these markets.
But at least that is something because people have been priced out. Affordability is a big problem. And all of those places there --
SIDNER: Yes.
ROMANS: -- affordability is a big problem. You can't be a typical two-income family and afford to buy something over the past few years in some of these places. So you're starting to see the air come out of the bubble in towns like those.
SIDNER: Yes, but down just that much is not -- I mean, a million dollars for two bedrooms is just outrageous.
ROMANS: Yes.
SIDNER: Christine Romans --
HARLOW: Yes, it is. Thank you.
ROMANS: You're welcome. SIDNER: -- thank you so much.
And any minute now we could be hearing from President Biden after his meeting with the Polish president. And later today he will be delivering a speech to mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. Coming up we will ask State Department spokesman Ned Price what to expect in Biden's speech.
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[07:58:44]
HARLOW: Top of the hour. Good morning, everyone. We're glad you're with us. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Sara Sidner is with me here again. Thank you for being with us.
SIDNER: I'm happy to be here.
HARLOW: Don will be back tomorrow. Kaitlan is live anchoring in Poland. Good morning, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Hi. We've had a lot of perogies the last few days that we've been here.
SIDNER: Oh, so good.
COLLINS: We are here in Warsaw. President Biden has finally arrived. He made that surprise to Kyiv, of course. Look, here they are in the room. We'll see if President Biden and President Duda make any comments.
This is the second meeting between these two leaders in 11 months. President Biden was here right after Russia invaded Ukraine. He gave a very forceful speech. He's expected to do so again today.
President Duda turning into a surprising ally for President Biden as they smile for the cameras here. They are meeting inside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw after just meeting behind closed doors.
No questions answered, it appears there. We'll continue to track that to see what President Biden is weighing in on. He has a lot of news to talk about.
Obviously, we saw President Putin giving a speech earlier today where he said Russia is going to suspend its cooperation in a nuclear arms agreement. That is quite notable. We're hearing Secretary of State Antony Blinken blast that, saying it is an irresponsible decision he believes.
[08:00:00]
