(orchestral music)
- Well, welcome to "The 700 Club."
Thanks for joining us.
Well yesterday there was no Facebook,
no Instagram, and no WhatsAppfor nearly seven hours.
The global crash cut offmore than a billion people
from their favorite applications.
Were user accounts compromised?
Well, the tech giant is saying no.
- Well today, it'sscrambling to reassure users
and put its systems back together.
Meanwhile, a whistleblower appearing
before the Senate todaysays Facebook intentionally
stokes division, spreads misinformation,
and harms young users for profit.
Jenna Browder has more from Washington.
- Facebook executives are apologizing
and putting back together the pieces
after a seven-hour shortageleft more than a billion users
without access to Facebook,Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The company blaming the blackouton configuration changes
to key routers thatcommunicate between systems.
Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg posting
this apology last night,"Sorry for the disruption.
"I know how much you rely on our services
"to stay connected withthe people you care about."
(Wall Street trading bell ringing)
On Wall Street, the company'sstock falling five percent
in just a few hours.
The crippling outage could cost Facebook
more than $70 million.
And Zuckerberg personallylost more than $6 billion.
The incident highlightsFacebook's ginormous power
and comes as lawmakers scrutinize it.
Today, a former Facebookemployee will appear
before a Senate subcommitteeafter coming out
in the media this weekend.
- The version of Facebookthat exists today
is tearing our societies apart.
- [Jenna] Frances Haugenrevealing her identity
on "60 Minutes" Sunday.
The former Facebook managerturned whistleblower worked
at the company for twoyears but left this spring
after her Civic IntegrityUnit was disbanded
following the 2020 election.
She shared thousands of pages
of internal Facebookresearch with Congress
which she says shows thesocial media giant knowingly
stokes division, spreads misinformation,
and hurts young users for its own profit.
- Facebook has realized thatif they change the algorithm
to be safer, people willspend less time on the site,
they'll click on less ads,they'll make less money.
- [Jenna] Haugen saysFacebook put some safeguards
in place leading up to the 2020election, but reverted back
to prioritize growth over safety,Facebook pushing back hard
after that "60 Minutes" interview.
"Every day our teams have tobalance protecting the ability
of billions of people toexpress themselves openly
with the need to keep our platform
a safe and positive place."
- This whistleblower is onegutsy, smart, strong woman.
- And Haugen's testimonyand Monday's outage
have not been linked.
Facebook says no user data was compromised
in the disruption.
In Washington, Jenna Browder, "CBN News."
- Well it's not new.
You go back in historyto Cambridge Analytica
and it's not kind ofinteresting to call it history,
but it's quite clear Facebook understands
the power of the platform.
It's also quite clear thatthey've hired psychologists
and sociologists to figure out how you
and I use the platformand then what is going
to convince us to usethat platform even more.
In highly-charged politicalseasons, they actually
are making money onhow much we're engaged,
and how outraged we are.
And so are they going to tamp that down?
The answer is no, it's making them money.
The more they can stokeand fuel the argument
then the more you andI are going to use it.
The counter to thatis, though, if they try
to tamp it down, at what point
are they infringing on free speech?
They're not a government,so the first amendment
doesn't apply to them, buttheir users would get outraged
at them if they aren't allowed
to freely express their opinion.
This is going to be an ongoing debate.
I don't see a way forwardbecause I don't see
the divided Congress comingup with any kind of regulation
on any of the tech giants.
So you and I are going tohave to do it on our own.
And in doing it on ourown, do we understand
when our emotional hotbuttons are being pressed
by social media?
When we start becomingself-aware that we're being used,
that's when we get the advantage.
Well in other news, for twoconsecutive months this summer,
border patrol agents apprehendedmore than 200,000 people
trying to enter our country illegally.
So what's behind the surge?
John Jessup has more on that story
from our CBN News Bureau in Washington.
John?
- Thanks, Gordon.
In September, the Bidenadministration's pushed
to remove Haitian refugeesfrom the Texas town of Del Rio,
sparked a fresh crisison the southern border.
Now, a new warning isemerging over another
significant surge of migrants in Central
and South America heading north.
Gary Lane has the story.
- [Gary] Thousands of Haitianmigrants who once gathered
under the bridge inDel Rio, Texas, are now
in the United States,and another massive wave,
as many as 400,000 may be coming.
Appearing on the CBN Newsprogram "The Global Lane,"
former-acting Secretaryof Homeland Security,
Chad Wolf explains why.
- They're incentivizedbecause of the success
of those Haitians inDel Rio getting across
and now into American communities.
So they see that it can be successful.
I think it's the Bidenadministration's job right now,
to break up those caravansand they need to do that
by working with Mexicanofficials and others.
But they also need to do thatby not only the messaging
but the policies they put in place.
- [Gary] An appeals court recently ruled
the Biden administrationcan continue deporting
migrant families trying tocross the US-Mexico border
under a COVID-19 pandemic rule.
Known as Title 42, theTrump administration
issued the order in March 2020
to slow the spread of the virus.
Wolf says with tens ofthousands more on the way,
the US border patrol willhave insufficient personnel
to process the migrants.
The federal vaccine mandatemay cause many agents
to lose their jobs ifthey don't get vaccinated.
- The administration, the Bidenadministration certainly has
a double standard here, that doesn't make
a lot of sense to most Americans.
You have law enforcementofficers that are doing
with these migrantsand coming into contact
with these migrants every day.
The migrants have achoice on whether or not
to take the vaccine, but the border patrol
and law enforcement don't.
- And we've seen meth andfentanyl seizures at the border
increase dramatically this year.
So how concerned are youabout gangs trafficking drugs
and even humans?
- [Wolf] When you have 15,000folks under that bridge
in Del Rio, it takes an immenseamount of border patrol time
and attention to care for andto process those individuals,
and that's time that youdon't have border patrol
on the line, on that internationalborder making sure that
you're not only keepingmigrants out but you're keeping
illegal narcotics andother contraband out.
And so when you havesomething like Del Rio
it just sucks up all the resources.
- [Gary] Immigration concerns go well
beyond the southern border.
Many Afghan refugees brought to the US
are being vetted after they arrive
and at least 700 reportedlyhave left their housing
at US military bases withoutcompleting their processing.
- We're doing it when they'realready here in the country
versus doing it overseasat a safe third country.
So I've got some realconcerns about the manner
and the speed at which they're trying
to do these background checks.
The system's not designedto do it, the manner,
in the manner in whichthey want it to be done.
We're gonna miss things.
And it only takes oneor two bad individuals
to have something significanthappen here, in the homeland.
- [Gary] Gary Lane, "CBN News."
- Thanks, Gary.
Turning overseas where Chinais ratcheting up tensions
with Taiwan in recent dayssending more than 100 war planes
on flights violatingthe island's war space.
CBN's Brody Carter reportson the White House response
and what the show of strengthcould mean for the region.
- As Taiwan strives tomaintain its independence,
China is flexing its militarymuscle over the island
with an implied ultimatum,war or loss of sovereignty.
(jet engines roaring)
More than 145 Chinesemilitary war planes tested
Taiwan's air defense over a four-day span
in a year full of provocativemilitary posturing.
- Well we remain concernedby The People's Republic
of China's provocativemilitary activity near Taiwan
which is destabilizingrisk miscalculations
and undermines a regionalpeace and stability.
- [Brody] The intimidationresumed Friday, October 1st
also the 72nd anniversaryof China's Communist State.
Monday, we saw its largest incursion yet,
flying 52 military aircraftacross the Taiwan Strait.
- We know that China is testingthe Biden administration
because after the fallof Afghanistan, they said
they were gonna go afterTaiwan and that the US
wasn't gonna do anything about it.
And I think that's actuallywhat leaders in Beijing think
so this is an exceedinglydangerous situation.
- [Brody] While analysts sayit's not an imminent threat
of war, earlier this year,the Communist government
pledged complete reunification with Taiwan
viewing it as a breakawayprovince that must be taken back.
- (speaking a foreign language)
- [Brody] Taiwan's defenseministry rebuked the incursion
calling them brutal and barbaric
while the US State Department called
for the aggression to stop saying, quote,
"We urge Beijing to ceaseits military diplomatic
"and economic pressure andcoercion against Taiwan."
- We have a policy calledStrategic Ambiguity
which means we don't tellanyone what we're going to do.
That policy worked ina more peaceful time,
it's not working now which means we need
to go to a policy of strategic clarity,
telling China we will defend Taiwan.
- [Brody] As tensionsrise in the South Pacific,
President Biden's alliancewith Britain, Australia,
and Japan is working toshare defense resources
and supply Australia withnuclear powered submarines
to ensure a stronger,long-term military presence
in the region.
- Our commitment to Taiwan is rock solid
and contributes to themaintenance of peace and stability
across the Taiwan Straitand within the region.
- [Brody] The timing of China'sforceful showing also comes
while a strong NATO presenceis patrolling nearby.
It includes more than a dozen US, British,
and allied war ships, includingthree aircraft carriers.
Some see this not onlyas a message to Taiwan
but other world powers, as well.
Brody Carter, "CBN News."
- All right, thank you, Brody.
Gordon, back to you.
- Well, if you don'tthink Taiwan's important
let me talk about one little company,
it's called Taiwan Semiconductor.
If there's a shooting warbetween China and Taiwan,
the Republic of China'swhat I ought to call it
because that's how they call themselves,
that it would absolutely cripple.
If you think there's ashortage of chips today,
if there's a shooting war with Taiwan,
all of that production goes away.
And it would be catastrophicfor all the tech
for all the world.
Now you add to it becauseit's a shooting war
with China, all the techcurrently being produced
in China goes away too, well now suddenly
things get to be very serious.
And you can kind of forgetabout your retirement funds,
you can forget about the stock market,
you can forget about the world economy.
All of those would bethrown into the tank,
literally, overnight.
So this is unbelievably important
and unbelievably strategic.
For decades, Taiwan, Republicof China has been an ally
with the United States in Asia.
They're a shining exampleof democracy in the region.
They have had free andopen elections for decades.
They have the freedomsthat you and I enjoy
in terms of the freedomof speech, of assembly.
They are a great example.
But we need to pay attentionto some of the warnings
that have been issued.
I'll go back to Lee Kuan Yewwho was the Prime Minister
of Singapore back in 2013.
He warned that the westdoes not understand
the resolve of President Xi,that the current president
of China, we do notunderstand his background,
we do not understand his strength of will.
And unless we start tounderstand that and get rid
of this strategicambiguity and start getting
very clear with him, ifyou invade we will defend,
without that, he's goingto view it as weakness,
and the withdrawal from Afghanistan
will be a signal for him.
And when you look at ourcurrent political situation,
when you look at how we're dealing
with all the domesticissues in our country,
the riots that occurred over the summer,
the insurrection thatoccurred on January 6th,
you look at these thingsand is our democracy strong,
do we have resolve as a people?
And I think when you look atthe withdrawal from Afghanistan
you could easily see how Beijingcould get the wrong message
that we would not stand with Taiwan.
It's now time for our statedepartment and our president
to be quite clear as to what we will do.
This is more than justlet's send aircraft carriers
and create NATO alliances and work
with England and Australia.
There needs to be a broad,regional alliance in Asia
and it needs to be very clearthat America views Taiwan
as a strategic partner.
Until that clarity comes,we're going to continue
to see this kind ofbelligerent action from China.
