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Quest Means Business
France Bans Domestic Routes Served By 2.5 Hour Train Ride; Kremlin Claims To Have Defeated Cross-Border Incursion; Source: DeSantis To Announce Presidential Bid On Twitter; USSG: Social Media May Not Be Safe For Youth; Meta Sells Giphy To Shutterstock; Dash To The Bell. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired May 23, 2023 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:23]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: An hour to go on trading on Wall Street and the markets are unhappy, and they seem to be getting unhappier.
We'll explain why they're bobbing around. It's all to do with the debt ceiling, you know that much and it doesn't take much to really send it one
way, or considerably lower.
Anyway, that's where it is at the second. Here are the news we're looking at. France has banned short domestic flights. It's a symbolic move to
reduce greenhouse emissions, but it does raise the question of where would it go next.
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor will announce his bid for presidency tomorrow. He will do via Twitter in a conversation with Elon Musk we are
told.
And Meta sells off Giphy at a substantial loss after an order from the regulators.
Live from New York, Tuesday, May the 24rd. I am Richard Quest, delighted to be with you. And here of course, I mean business.
Good evening.
Tonight, France has imposed its ban on domestic flights for journeys possible in less than two-and-a-half hours by train. It's a move designed
to reduce airline emissions, although frankly symbolic at best, only three routes are affected so far, Paris only to Lyon, Nantes, and Bordeaux.
Because the bans are such must meet certain EU conditions. For instance, there must be a high-speed rail alternative. The train schedule must allow
people to arrive in the morning and return the same day, and there must be enough service to absorb the increase in passengers.
The ban, it may be symbolic, but it does presage a much greater change of your will in future transportation. So last month, the French transport
minister, Sir Clement Beaune told me greening the transport system is his priority.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLEMENT BEAUNE, FRENCH TRANSPORT MINISTER: This aviation industry is very strong in France, I want it to remain very strong. We're investing a lot,
which is a priority in clean fuels, for instance, in this green transformation of this industry, we will succeed and we have set a target
of zero carbon for 2050 in this industry.
But in the meantime, I think it's important to take into accounts, some behaviors, some activities, which should contribute a bit more to the
greening of our transport systems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Melissa is with me in Paris.
Now look, the reality is this change per se, won't have much of an effect. But you're now going to have to push the parameters of this law too far out
before you're starting to hit a lot of other European countries and European routes.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Of course, the question is, Richard, what they will do at European level. For the time being, it is
just the French battling with first of all, their commitment that you just heard from the transport minister there of zero carbon emissions by 2050.
To give you an idea of how far they have to go is 408 million tons last year. They are looking at getting that down to 270 million tons by 2030.
But there is a long way to go, and that is why that is part of their reason for announcing this ban, it had already, Richard, been in effect.
Air France had agreed to go with it even ahead of the degree being published in exchange for some COVID relief and other operators had been
banned from coming in to take over on those particular routes that you mentioned, so Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon.
But critics say that it really is nothing at all. You're talking about 0.3 percent of the overall emissions caused by airplanes departing from France,
so very little indeed, and -what the environment committee that advises the French government had suggested is that this should actually apply to
almost all domestic journeys, that is any journey that could be carried out in France within four hours, so therefore, Marseilles, the very south of
the country should see this band as well. That has not been the case.
So it's been criticized at once for being slightly timid, for not being terribly effective. And you're quite right, Richard, the next question that
follows is what then happens at a European level?
QUEST: All right, so let's take you because you travel extensively in the good service of our corporation, and you have to usually get there
yesterday, because it's a story.
Now, if we draw a sort of a four-hour round-about, I mean, we're talking about whether you would take a train to Brussels, you probably would. Would
you take a train to Amsterdam if you had to go down to Montpellier or Madrid, for example. At what point do you say train versus plane?
[15:05:11]
BELL: Exactly, I think you're quite right. What we are looking at here in Europe, where you have much smaller countries remember, Richard that France
fits 17 times inside the United States. So these are very different conversations that are going on.
Already, Europeans tend to favor rail rather than air wherever they can, but of course, the problem is that it is for the correspondents, for
instance, what this latest law does not do is prevent you if you're flying in from New York, taking the ongoing flight to another city. It is for
people wanting to go from one European city to another.
And you can imagine that this is something that will carry on, but that will have to be agreed at European level. The point is, this is on the
minds of Europeans, partly because also remember last year here in France was the hottest since 1900. This has really helped to focus the minds.
These may be timid measures for the time being, opposed, of course, you should expect by the airline companies and the lobbyists, but nonetheless,
likely the way of things to go here, Europe-wise as well -- Richard.
QUEST: I feel a challenge coming on in the next year. You and I will have to choose our routes. One of us will take the train one of us will take the
plane and we'll see who gets who gets there first.
BELL: We shall drive, Richard, wherever we can.
QUEST: Well now you're starting a whole new thing with hybrid. You will be wanting a das chevre, belching out black smoke.
All right, Melissa Bell, thank you very much.
Moscow has claimed that it has crushed the latest incursion that's launched from Ukraine. According to the Moscow defense ministry -- Russian defense
ministry, 70 fighters who attacked the Russian region of Belgorod were killed and it says the rest were pushed back into Ukrainian territory.
The Kremlin is calling the attackers Ukrainian militants, although Kyiv is denying involvement. Two groups of anti-Putin Russian nationals have
claimed responsibility.
Matthew Chance is reporting from London and I need to warn you, the report is graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Russian forces insists they are taking back control from a group of what
they call saboteurs infiltrating this leafy border.
These images purporting to show a Russian soldier detaining three of them was broadcast on state media.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE (voice over): Meet the anti-Kremlin Russians, now taking the fight back home.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE (voice over): "This is how we work," he says. Amid a bold armored raid across the Ukrainian border into Russia itself.
CNN can't independently verify any of the images, but this entire column of vehicles was spotted crossing the frontier. Ukrainian forces insist it's
not them, but exiled Russian groups fighting against the Kremlin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are Russians. Just like you, we want our children to grow up in peace and be free so they can travel,
study, and be happy, but this is not possible in Putin's Russia.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE (voice over): And the raid caught Russian border guards unaware. This one tried to be a hero, the narrator says, amid the scattered
passports and a portrait of Vladimir Putin overlooking the carnage below.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALES speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE (voice over): "The border is now unlocked," says one of the fighters. "Grandpa Putin will soon turn to honey," says the other, in other
words, "die."
(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)
CHANCE (voice over): On Kremlin controlled television, the presenters stood like statues as the day's events replay of videos from stunned locals
witnessing the fight.
The Kremlin called the attack a diversion, but already, there is sharp criticism from Russian hardliners that this was allowed to occur.
This Russian region right next to Ukraine is no stranger to cross border attacks, but armed incursions like this are rare. And the mood here,
according to local Russian officials has shifted.
With empty buses coming in to evacuate residents, while those who can are leaving by themselves.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Fred Pleitgen is with me in Kyiv.
The situation was never easy to understand, but now it is becoming considerably more complicated, because at the same time, we've got the war
elements going on, which of course, at the moment, we've had Zelenskyy at the G7 and seemingly a much greater emphasis on support for Zelenskyy from
G7 members.
[15:10:28]
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yes, we certainly have. And I think you're absolutely right that it is certainly
becoming a lot more complicated, especially as right now, much of the world and certainly many of the countries that are supplying weapons to Ukraine
are waiting for this massive counter operation, counterattack that the Ukrainians have said that they are on the verge of launching.
It's quite interesting, because earlier today, Richard, I was actually with Ukraine's national security adviser and I asked him if they were ready for
this counteroffensive, and he said they have a plan. They are working according to that plan.
However, they are obviously not going to say when exactly that counteroffensive is going to start. They are saying that it's going to
happen when the president says so and when he has talked about it with his main military advisers. So that's certainly also something that plays into
it as well.
But I think you are absolutely correct to note that right now, the situation certainly right now is increasingly not only getting tense, but
that the stakes are getting higher, as well as President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, he made that round, first through Europe and really, to Asia as
well, getting a lot of new weapons pledges, like, for instance, from the Germans, from the Brits, from the French as well.
And now some of these countries are saying, look, we need to see something on the battlefield after this happens, after these pledges have been made,
as well. Zelenskyy, today, by the way, Richard, he was visiting Ukrainian troops on the frontlines, naval troops on the frontlines, telling them how
important their work is.
But right now, what you have is a situation where a lot of the frontlines are very bloody, but not moving very much. And then you had this incursion
that took place that Matthew was just talking about there in his report, that certainly could complicate things even further, because one of the
things of course, now could happen is massive retaliation by the Russians after quite frankly, what was a humiliating incursion onto their territory.
QUEST: Okay, but Fred, pretty much since Christmas beyond, we've heard of the spring offensive, I mean, is this a baked cake that the Ukrainians --
assuming, you know, all military things being equal, that they all going to go for this offensive?
PLEITGEN: Well, it certainly seems that at some point, they are going to go for this offensive, but at the same time, obviously, it's unclear when
exactly that is going to happen. And I think one of the things that we always have to keep in mind and quite frankly, also, one of the things that
the national security adviser told me about today and many Ukrainians have said is that of course the Russians have a say in this as well.
They've been strengthening their positions down in the south of the country. They've obviously had that massive operation going on in Bakhmut
as well, which has drained some Russian -- well, a lot of Russian resources, the Ukrainian say, but of course, has been extremely tough also
on the Ukrainians as well.
They've had massive losses in those areas. The Ukrainians are saying, they still have a shortage of a lot of the very important munitions that they
need. We talk a lot about Western weapons that they've gotten, but the actual Munitions for those weapons are extremely important to them, as
well, as they want to strike this offensive.
It seems as though right now, the Ukrainians obviously are saying that they have a plan for this offensive, but they're waiting for the right moments
to start. And that is, of course, something that could vary, you know, when that's a good time, and where exactly that could happen, as well.
So certainly, there will be an offensive, the Ukrainians say, at some point in time. Right now, they're not getting nailed down on when that's going to
be, but I think one of the things that we have to make clear to our viewers also, Richard, is that the Ukrainians right now have put together of
course, thanks to a lot of these donations from Western countries, one of the most modern militaries in all of Europe.
If you look at the main battle tanks from Germany or coming from the UK as well, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers, they have a lot of gear. They
certainly on paper seem to have the capabilities to do this. Now, it seems they're waiting for the right moment. And of course, also the right level
of training as well -- Richard.
QUEST: Plenty more for us to talk about on another occasion, Fred Pleitgen, grateful, in Kyiv.
Tonight, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from New York in a moment, Ron De Santos, the Florida governor is widely expected to launch his presidential campaign
tomorrow and he will do it on Twitter in a live conversation with Elon Musk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:17:05]
QUEST: Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to enter the US presidential race tomorrow, and he is going to do it in an unusual fashion.
His team is telling CNN he'll make the announcement on Twitter during a live conversation with Elon Musk. At an event today, Musk said it will be a
social media first with real time questions and answers.
Jessica Dean is in Miami.
It gets more weird by the moment. Why is this the method for announcing, something that we've all known is coming, but why this method?
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why this method? Richard, it's the question I think a lot of people are asking right now because it is so
outside of the realm of what we are used to when it comes time for somebody to announce they are running for president.
However, in talking with people who are working closely with the governor, this is what they want. They want something that is different. They want
something that is unconventional, and they want to really make a statement.
And so this is certainly one way to do it and they certainly feel like this is the right way to do it for Florida governor, Ron DeSantis.
You know, he has been traveling around the United States over the last several months to a lot of key early states, a lot of key swing states. I'm
told that he was invited to all of them, he didn't ask to go. But it's no coincidence that that made up his schedule.
I was told he was really taking what he and his advisers like to call the Florida Blueprint. They really feel like they've had a series of wins here
in Florida that they can take on the road and sell to the American people and they really wanted to take their temperature and see how they responded
to the Florida governor, and I think if we can glean from all of that by the fact that we now know that he is officially announcing tomorrow, that
they feel like it is time to go.
It is a broader theme, Richard for his what I think will be for his now campaign, we can almost call it, but his political operation today, which
is they really want to do things differently.
We should expect to see him out on the campaign trail aggressively. They really want to draw contrast between President Joe Biden who they really
want to paint as older and a different generation and President Trump who they think -- they want to paint a contrast with him as well for different
reasons.
QUEST: Right. But as they go on the trail, in your view, Jessica, do they - - I know they have got to attack both, but do they sort of pretend to ignore Trump as an irrelevant, concentrating on Biden? Or do they figure,
we really have got to put in Trump in his place, Biden follows later. It's almost like who do they pretend doesn't exist?
DEAN: Right. It's a really interesting question in that I think, conventionally, of course, you would go after your Republican rival to get
out of a Republican primary, but in this case, they are threading a really unique needle and that they want former Trump voters.
[15:20:01]
So they don't want to isolate them so much that they are hitting Trump too hard, but they want to make the case and I will expect to hear from
Governor DeSantis is that I can execute the policies without the drama, and that is what we've heard from him.
We've heard him say again and again, we don't have drama. We don't have palace intrigue. We just get the job done. I expect that to be the message
as it relates to Trump.
With President Biden, they want to take him on in a much more head on way. They really want to run more of a general election against him. Again,
getting at this idea, Richard, that Governor DeSantis is more electable in a general election than former President Trump. Now is that true? It's up
to the voters to tell us.
QUEST: And you'll be watching. Grateful that you're in Miami for us. Thank you.
DEAN: You're welcome.
QUEST: That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
The IMF no longer predicts the UK is headed towards a recession. Apparently 0.four of a percent of growth. Early in the spring, the fund said UK would
shrink around that amount.
Cold comfort to some families struggling to pay grocery bills and food prices. Food inflation up almost 20 percent. The finance minister, Jeremy
Hunt met with food manufacturers today to discuss food prices.
Anna Stewart is in London.
The Bank of England had removed recession as part of its base scenario for the UK economy. So the IMF saying that, reinforces it. But the danger is,
as I've just alluded, we imply that things are much better than they actually are.
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Yes, and I have to say when I first saw the alert that went out, UK economy will not fall into a recession this year.
You think it's good news, but you start to read a bit further down via the articles and through the many releases we've had today, and you see that
inflation is likely to be higher for longer, rates are likely to go up higher than anyone expected and they have already gone up 12 times this
year.
They stand at four-and-a-half percent. Market is pricing in another hike at least one for the end of the year. So, it'll take it to around five
percent, that's predicted, Richard.
So at this stage, with inflation so high, anyone with a mortgage, a bank loan or any kind of debt, paying those kinds of rates, you can see that
this doesn't feel like particularly good news at all.
QUEST: Let's turn to one other issue I want to get your point on. London, the High Court says Prince Harry has no right to hire police protection
while in the UK.
Now the Duke of Sussex lost obviously his official bodyguards, police bodyguards when he stepped back from Royal duties. He'd asked to pay for it
himself. The Home Office argued it was inappropriate for the wealthy people to buy protective services from the armed forces.
Now I urged you in the last hour talking to Teresa, Harry's view is look, the police are better with intelligence, therefore, I'm prepared to pay.
STEWART: Yes, and he thinks he deserves to have the protection as well, Richard, because he was born into the Royal family, he doesn't consider
himself to have chosen a celebrity lifestyle and he says, he and his family aren't safe when they visit the UK for private visits or for charity events
or whatever it may be.
And there was an incident two summers ago where Harry says the paparazzi chased the car in London and of course, a more recent one in New York.
But to that, the Home Office has made clear they don't think that UK Police should be for hire from wealthy individuals. They don't want to set that
precedent. A judge agreed with that.
And this was Harry's bit to try and challenge that decision and that has failed. But it's not the end of the line, Richard, because there is still
another bid from Prince Harry which is a challenge against the actual Home Office decision itself.
He doesn't believe that that was a lawful decision, so this will run on a little bit longer.
QUEST: Good to see you. Thank you.
McKinsey says the global beauty product market hit $430 billion last year, and it's likely to keep growing, which is excellent news in South Korea. It
is now the third biggest exporter of cosmetics worldwide, shipping out over eight billion a year dollars' worth.
Allied Market Research says the number is going to be $14 billion in just a few years' time, and skincare has been long part of the culture. Just last
month, I visited the traditional jjimjilbang in Seoul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice over): The Korean baths and sauna --
QUEST (on camera): A minimum of 10 to 15 minutes in this hot water. They want my skin to become like a prune.
QUEST (voice over): The tradition here is to go as nature intended and when in Rome or in Seoul, you know what I mean.
QUEST (on camera): It feels amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: And on the way back of course, you pick up huge amounts of things at the airport, Vital Hydra Solutions. I've never seen -- journalist, Elise Hu
is the author of "Flawless." An excellent piece about what she calls the rise of K-Beauty and the K-Beauty capital.
I've never seen anything quite like it. I travel extensively, but this obsession with skincare and skincare products. What are they aiming for?
[15:25:08]
ELISE HU, AUTHOR, "FLAWLESS": They are aiming for a certain standardized perfection that comes out of K-pop and K-drama that you've probably already
seen. The growth of K-beauty is really tied, Richard to the growth of Korean visual exports all over the world.
So you have seen the look of K-pop idols, and now the industry and the medical aesthetic advances are all organized around helping all of us try
and aspire to those ideals.
But Richard, I have to ask you, what was it like for you? How was your spa experience?
QUEST: Oh, you know, there was nothing gentle about it. But --
HU: Oh.
QUEST: No, no, brilliant. It was none of that sort of tinkly music that you often get in Southeast Asia. No, this was get your elbows in, get your
elbows, get your exfoliating done, and get on with it.
And unfortunately, if we weren't quite as squeamish, you'd have seen a little bit more of my backside than you'd want to.
And look, reading -- well, it is all alfresco there, isn't it? Look, unfortunately, I'd made notes in the book, which somebody has given me a
different copy. But one of the things you talk about is this, it's not aiming for some sort of whiter than white, mythical Western look. We often
think that's what the goal is that they're going for, whether -- not just with skin bleaching or whatever, but you're saying that that's not what K-
beauty is about.
HU: That's right. The desire and the standards are quite local. There was this move, I think, in the late 90s, when a lot of plastic surgery came out
of South Korea in which a lot of Western journalists were saying, oh, the Asian viewers or Asian audience just wants to appear white.
But really, what I found in my research is that half of all Asians actually do have double eyelids naturally, and so the aspiration is really quite
local. It is, you want to look like the stars or the celebrities in your own region or in China, it is the Chinese celebrities; in Korea, it is the
Korean celebrities.
And so it was a real misunderstanding or misinterpretation back in the 90s.
QUEST: Is it healthy? In a sense that -- and we're going to be talking maybe about it online, mental health, but is it healthy for a generation to
become so obsessed by a look, questioning, of course, if whether half of these things actually work or not?
HU: I do think it's morally problematic, because just we shouldn't try and fight racism by making everyone white, and we shouldn't try and fight
homophobia by making every one straight, we shouldn't fight lookism, which is appearance-based discrimination by making everyone pretty according to
the standards of the day.
And so what I argue is that we need to actually rethink the way that we over link appearance and worthiness and think about beauty in far more
nuanced ways.
QUEST: Oh, but that is so difficult to do.
HU: Absolutely. It absolutely is. It's a huge challenge. But I think we have an opportunity and also the cynical look is what other choice do we
have? I mean, do we continue down this road in which these technological filters and digital media continue to feed us these standards that are more
alarming and cyborgian and really feel out of reach.
QUEST: I actually went into one of those hellfire saunas downstairs as well, where they sort of turn up literally the flames. It was it was an
extraordinary experience.
I wish we could enjoy more with a solution on our faces. And next time we talk, we will be suitably dolled up for that. Thank you very much.
HU: I appreciate it.
QUEST: QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. A top doctor on this same idea is sounding the alarm about what social media is doing to children.
Google's Clinical Director of Mental Health will be with us after the break.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): It's 10 pm. Do you know where your children are?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: That's a classic 1970s warning for parents.
Do you know where your children are?
Well, now we know where they are. Problem is, they're in their rooms and on their phones.
And the critical question has become, what are your children looking at on those screens?
The mental health of an entire generation it, would appear, is now at risk. Don't take my word for it. The U.S. surgeon general says he's very worried
about the social media and its effects.
Dr. Vivek Murthy is calling on companies to do more to take the burden of parents and children. So if you look at usage, this is the basics. A third
of teens are on social media on their phones, almost constantly. Just look at it. A third, almost constantly. That's a crisis.
In the meantime, Google is trying out some new guardrails. Parents can control screen time and alert them of certain searches. Google will have a
hotline number immediately pop up for suicide related searches.
And the video platform, YouTube, is removing videos that show disordered eating. Megan Bell is Google's clinical director of consumer and mental
health. She's with me from California.
Let's be clear about this. This is something that I fully recognize that companies like Google and all the other actors in this, you're trying to do
your best but it's a losing battle.
MEGAN BELL, CLINICAL DIRECTOR OF CONSUMER AND MENTAL HEALTH, GOOGLE: Well, mental health, especially youth mental health, is critically important.
It's important we're talking about it at a societal level.
And there's two sides of this and I'd love to speak to how Google is building tools that enable parents to follow the surgeon general's
recommendations and limit the amount of technology that their kids are using. We've built a number of helpful tools that equip parents in that
regard.
QUEST: We could go through some of them. But at the end of the day, they have to be used.
And I guess the question becomes, the abrogation of parental responsibility, when parents don't care or aren't involved, where you have
to step in?
BELL: It's such an important question. This brings us to what we're actually building into our own products to create these safeguards, you
know, turn on a number of privacy and digital well-being features by default for youth. And I can tell you about something that we've recently
announced on YouTube.
[15:35:00]
BELL: We're actually changing the kind of content that kids see related to disordered eating in particular. It's a great example that shows the
direction that we're going, in terms of trying to create safer context for kids online.
What we've specifically done, we're now removing content from YouTube platform that shows disordered eating behaviors that kids might see and
then imitate in their real lives. So this is things like bingeing and purging, weight based bullying, excessive dieting behaviors.
So we're removing that content and that's important for fostering space that better promotes wellbeing.
QUEST: What do you say, if all these things work up to a point but, ultimately, the real long term answer is simply, don't be on so long. Don't
use it so much. Don't be looking at the screen so much and do something else instead.
Isn't that something that all of you have to consider as being an important attribute?
BELL: Absolutely. Right now, our approach is to equip parents with tools like Google's family link app, which you can download and create profiles
per child that let you set screen time limits, set a hard stop bedtime, get alerts when your children arrive or depart from a particular location.
And then we have a couple of tools on YouTube that let you better tailor the content experiences that your kids see. Our YouTube kids app allows
parents of younger children to really curate watchlists, turn on or off particular features. And we have supervised experiences that parents can
use on the main YouTube product for teens.
QUEST: All of which you've said relies on a parental involvement, relies on, to some extent, some form of supervision, where we have a society
today, where literally, the kid has got the phone and nobody really gives a flying anything.
That's the problem that I don't see an answer for yet because there's nothing you can do about that. That is a societal issue, that seemingly
society does not want to grasp yet.
BELL: Well, it is a societal issue and it's one that we're really working closely on with parents, educators, child safety and privacy experts.
And we recently spoke out in support of an effort to do exactly that. The - - Maryland's amended version of the age-appropriate design code, it hits at some of the issues we're talking about. And, of course, there's nuances.
But the more specific we can be about recommendations -- we are in support of policy and efforts in our own products that really target the heart of
these issues.
But understand them from not a one size fits all approach, because we need to think about this from the perspective of, of course, households, where
there is an involved active parent or caregiver but also kids who are in unsupported households as you mentioned.
QUEST: Megan, we'll talk more, grateful for your time today, thank you.
BELL: Thank you so much.
QUEST: One early profitable thought, I frequently walk away from discussions like this sometimes feeling unsatisfied. We all know social
media is creating a giant mental health problem.
The issue is, what do we do about it?
My good colleague, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, wrote a very helpful piece looking to answer that question based on his experience. Sanjay recommends three
practical steps you can take. Have the conversation with your child, sit down for an unhurried talk about how much they're using screens, on what
apps and how it makes them feel.
Don't catastrophize; social media does not create the problem for every child.
And remember that life is what we pay attention to. It's a useful tool for work and communicating. At the end of the day, we all decide if they're the
most worthy of our attention. Sanjay's piece is at cnn.com.
The end of an era for Giphy. Shutterstock says it's buying the site from Meta for $53 million, an eye-popping loss. Meta paid $315 million for it
only three years ago. The U.K. regulators are the one that forced the breakup. They think it will help increase competition.
Now Giphy's 1.7 billion daily users are left to sit and watch as the site moves to its new owners. Clare is with me.
Clare, I always need you to help me understand this. Look, I both love and hate Giphys. They often seem to be the most annoying thing in the world.
But when you get the right one, it sums up the situation.
[15:40:00]
QUEST: So how embarrassing for Meta to have to sell at such a loss?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: I mean, it is an unfortunate move for Meta. As you say, Giphy GIFs can be entertaining. They could have really
been a boost to Meta's messaging platforms. Obviously Meta did not want to lose $250 million on this attempted acquisition.
And I think this is a reminder of how tough of an environment it is for Meta in terms of making big acquisitions and growing its business through
acquisitions. The whole reason it had to sell Giphy off is because U.K. antitrust regulators said that this acquisition could harm competition.
So in that respect, I think this is chump change for Meta, a couple hundred million dollars. But that is a real significant problem for the company.
QUEST: Right, but for Giphy going to Shutterstock, is that going to be more difficult to compete in the future?
When it was at Meta or it was going to Meta, it had a nice big umbrella, under which it could shade.
DUFFY: Yes, I think that's true. Meta is obviously a much bigger company for Giphy to be a part of. Although I think being at Shutterstock, it seems
like Giphy will be a bigger priority for its parent company at Shutterstock than it would be at Meta, which has a lot of other things going on.
Potentially, this opens up the possibility for Giphy to be available on more platforms rather than just Meta's platforms alone. And Richard, I want
to point out, although Meta has made a big loss on Giphy, it doesn't mean that GIFs aren't cool anymore. I made you a little gift based on one of
your recent interviews, we can pull it up.
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: Love it.
DUFFY: I'm no GIF expert at this point, but I wanted to make the point, they're so cool.
QUEST: They are indeed, especially talking about babies in business class, put the children in the back of the plane. Thank you very much, Clare.
DUFFY: Thank you.
QUEST: Goodbye to Giphy.
And that's QMB. At the top of the hour, we'll have a dash to the closing bell. That's only after you've enjoyed "LIVING GOLF."
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QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest, together, we'll have a dash to the closing bell. Just seconds away and if you look, they're going to be lower stocks,
as the debt ceiling talks drag on in Washington.
We're up over 200 points now and the debt talks in the White House ended this afternoon, without much progress.
That's how the markets are looking, the S&P and the Nasdaq also sharply lower. That's the dash for the bell today, shortened. I'm Richard Quest.
Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, bearing in mind the markets, I hope it's profitable. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.
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