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Movies In Space; New Electric Transport; Facebook Whistle-Blower. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired October 06, 2021 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: A high-profile testimony on Capitol Hill leads off our show this Wednesday, and it concerns applications used around the
world.
I`m Carl Azuz. It`s always good to have you watching.
Frances Haugen is a former employee of Facebook. She`s also been characterized as a whistle-blower, someone who publicly points out
wrongdoing because she released internal Facebook documents that paint the company in a bad light.
Haugen accuses Facebook of being aware that its apps cause problems in society, but not doing enough to stop it. Specifically, according to
Haugen, those problems include the sharing of false or misleading information and the negative effects that Instagram allegedly has on the
body images of women and teenage girls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCES HAUGEN, FORMER FACEBOOK PRODUCT MANAGER: I believe Facebook`s products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy.
The company`s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won`t make the necessary changes, because they have put their
astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed. They won`t solve this crisis without your help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Haugen left Facebook earlier this year after working there as a product manager focused on civic integrity issues.
After her hearing yesterday, Facebook released a statement saying she`d been an employee for less than two years, never attended a top-level
decision meeting, and didn`t work on or research the subject matter she testified about.
The company said it didn`t agree with how she characterized many of the issues she discussed, but that it did agree it was time to create standard
rules for the Internet. In fact, though Haugen said she came forward at -- quote -- "great personal risk," her suggestions for addressing the problems
at Facebook were similar to what Facebook has suggested itself.
Haugen said congressional action is needed to regulate the company. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last year that more government regulation
would benefit Facebook.
Haugen opposed the idea that Facebook be broken up into smaller companies, as critics and some lawmakers have suggested. Zuckerberg has also fiercely
opposed that idea.
Despite strongly criticizing Facebook, Haugen told "The Wall Street Journal" that her goal wasn`t to bring the company down, but to save it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O`SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS POLITICS AND TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Facebook had a nightmare day on Monday, with all of its platforms going offline.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were down for hours throughout Monday.
And now the headache for the company moves here to Washington, D.C. The whistle-blower who left the company back in May will be testifying before
the Senate.
We saw earlier in the week she spoke to "60 Minutes," where she outlined how she said Facebook was damaging democracy and bad for elections and bad
for the mental health of children. We have her testimony, her opening statement of her testimony.
She said: "Facebook wants you to believe in false choices. They want you to believe you must choose between connecting with those you love online and
your personal privacy, that, in order to share fun photos of your kids with old friends, you must also be inundated with misinformation. They want you
to believe that this is -- that that is just part of the deal."
And she says that she doesn`t want to hurt Facebook. She doesn`t want to hurt people who are working there. She wants to make Facebook better and
she wants to create space for social media to be a positive force in society, something she says that is not happening right now."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ (voice-over): ":10 Trivia."
Which of these cities has the worst traffic in the United States, New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Boston, Massachusetts; or Houston,
Texas?
According to multiple new studies, the New York region is number one when it comes to worst traffic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: You could say our next story is about air pods, not these.
We`re talking about one of several electric modes of transportation that are being tested around the world`s major cities. This one is called uSky
transport. It runs on a test line that`s a quarter mile-long, and the company that makes it hopes to expand from there.
One observer says this would probably be best in places where public transportation isn`t fully developed. It could still add to the congestion
of major cities. The transport network can be built at a fraction of the cost of a subway, but it would still run around $10 million per kilometer,
according to uSky, and the company says it has numerous certification standards to meet, which could mean a lot of safety tests.
But here`s what success would look like for uSky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLEG ZARETSKIY, CEO, USKY TRANSPORT: The main advantage is that it is completely environmentally friendly, so electrical driving. And we don`t
utilize land.
I would say that this pod is the state of the art in technical sense.
We are giving mobility to people. And I think that this is very important. We want to ink first commercial contract before the end of this year, so
2023, 2024, we will be in the cities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Orbiting laboratory, potential space tourist destination, movie studio.
The International Space Station continues to take on new roles as it whirls around the Earth. The United States has paid about $100 billion of the
orbiter`s $150 billion total cost, and America spends $3 billion to $4 billion every year to maintain it.
So, as it looks toward future missions farther away from the Earth, NASA is hoping for more private investment in the ISS. And two of the Russian
travelers who arrived there Tuesday could be part of that. They`re shooting a feature film on board the station. It`s the first time that`s ever been
done.
And because it`s risky and expensive, a critic told "The New York Times" it`s not clear how many films will follow. But there are other plans for
space movies shot on location.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARRATOR (voice-over): Sixty-four years after the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into orbit, Russia is poised to claim another first,
the first full-length movie to be filmed in space.
YULIA PERESILD, ACTRESS (through translator): I am not afraid of anything. I just really want us to make a good movie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Liftoff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff of Soyuz MS-19 with an actress and her producer.
NARRATOR: Russian actress Yulia Peresild and the film`s director lifted off in a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan and
will spend 12 days filming at the International Space Station.
The two have been training alongside real cosmonauts for months, from centrifuge tests to parachute drills. But it was the acronyms that nearly
did them in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): During this time, they tortured us. They didn`t beat us up, though, but made us memorize a lot of unknown
abbreviations.
NEIL ARMSTRONG, NASA ASTRONAUT: I`m at the foot of the ladder.
NARRATOR: The U.S. won the first space race by landing astronauts on the moon, but it`s losing this race to Hollywoodize space.
NASA was first announced plans last year to film a movie on the space station starring Tom Cruise. But, a few months later, Russia`s space
agency, Roscosmos, announced its own plans. And the head of Roscosmos later invited the three big billionaire space barons to the filmmakers` launch,
with a special invitation for Elon Musk.
DMITRY ROGOZIN, GENERAL DIRECTOR, ROSCOSMOS (through translator): Yes, yes. I already set kettle on heat. We are awaiting him.
NARRATOR: No word if Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Richard Branson responded to the invitation.
Bezos` Blue Origin is busy preparing to send Hollywood royalty into space. William Shatner, the original Captain Kirk from the "Star Trek" franchise,
who, at 90 years old, will be the oldest person to ever fly in space.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: The toymaker Mattel has been making astronaut Barbie dolls since 1965.
And 56 years later, the European Space Agency has set Barbie to zero gravity in honor of World Space Week. Space travel is expensive, so Barbie
is aboard an airplane that simulates the zero gravity of space by diving after a sharp climb.
The doll is modeled after Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who says she hopes it inspires more women to take up space careers.
Let`s just hope Barbie doesn`t get sick. We hear those zero g flights can really test your Mattel, and plastic ain`t the same as a cast-iron stomach.
It`s true that many dolls are tossed up and down by those who toy with them, but zero g can make you toss your cookies. Hopefully, Barbie won`t
take it queasy, lest critics call her Barfie.
I`m Carl Azuz.
North Pike High School, we see you watching from the Summit. That`s Summit, Mississippi.
YouTube.com/CNN10 is the place to request a mention our show.
END
