U.S. lawmakers vs. TikTok's popularity

Transcript

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today!

It’s Wednesday, March 22nd.

I’m Niala Boodhoo.

Here’s what we’re covering today: what’s at stake with today’s Fed announcement. Plus, evictions return to pre-pandemic levels. But first, today’s One Big Thing: U.S. lawmakers vs. TikTok’s popularity.

U.S. lawmakers vs. TikTok’s popularity

NIALA: Is TikTok too popular to ban? The Chinese-owned video sharing app says it has a U.S. monthly user base that’s almost half the size of our total population.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will grapple with the app’s data security practices later this week. Axios’ Media Reporter Sara Fischer is here with what to watch for in tomorrow’s hearing. Hi, Sara!

SARA FISCHER: Hey Niala.

NIALA: Sarah. Is TikTok the most popular smartphone app in America right now?

SARA: It's one of them. Last year was certainly the most popular and the most downloaded here in the U.S. There have been a few other apps that have broken through and had more downloads by month. Be Real, had its moment. But by and large, TikTok is definitely one of the most popular in the country.

NIALA: And how much power does that give it then?

SARA: Well, it gives it a lot of power. You know, the CEO is going to testify tomorrow before Congress, and one of the big points that he's going to make is that 150 million Americans use this app on a monthly basis. That's according to TikTok’s own estimates, and that puts pressure on lawmakers who are considering forcing its parent company to sell to a U.S. company or otherwise have it be banned. If it's one of the most popular apps that could have some political blowback, especially ahead of the 2024 election.

NIALA: Sara, you've reported that more than a dozen countries have introduced some sort of ban on TikTok for security reasons. Can you remind us what American lawmakers say their national security concerns are here?

SARA: The biggest national security concern is that TikTok could, you know, infiltrate someone's phone who works in the government or military, and capture their private data, things like location, etcetera. But there's also concerns around data storage for everyday users. You know, TikTok has said that they are going to move all U.S. user data to servers based here, but there is a policy in China where if you're a Chinese company, you are forced to share user data with the CCP. And so lawmakers are concerned that they are funneling U.S. user data over there.

And then the third concern would be propaganda and content moderation. There was a 2019 Guardian report that found that TikTok in the U.S. was using algorithms to filter out things like information around Tiananmen Square or other messages that might not be supported by the CCP. And our government wants to make sure that if the app is going to exist here and serve U.S. users, it's not filtering messages to support the Chinese government.

NIALA: So what are you watching for tomorrow?

SARA: Well, I'm watching to see what types of questions lawmakers ask about the national security threats and how the CEO responds. Are they gonna lean into the security threats for government and military? Are they gonna lean more into the security threats around propaganda? Their line of questioning might give us a sense as to what the real concerns are from CFIUS, the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. and lawmakers broadly. And then I'm also watching to hear how people respond to the testimony writ large. You know, I think the public is pretty split right now about whether or not this is a national security threat, and TikTok should be banned if it doesn't sell. Could this hearing sway opinion one way or another?

NIALA: Sarah Fischer writes Axios Media Trends Newsletter. Thanks Sarah.

SARA: Thank you Niala.

NIALA: In a moment, why the rate of evictions is going up across the country.

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Evictions return to pre-pandemic levels

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today! I’m Niala Boodhoo.

The cost of housing is historically high right now, and the rate of evictions in many American cities has returned to or even exceeds pre pandemic levels. That's according to data from Princeton University's eviction lab, and with pandemic era eviction moratoriums no longer in place, many Americans are now facing the threat of losing their housing.

Axios’ Alex Fitzpatrick is here with more. Hey, Alex.

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Hey, thanks for having me on.

NIALA: So why has the rate of evictions gone back up so much? Is this just about rent prices or is it about the moratorium expiring?

ALEX: It's a combination of those things. It is that the moratoriums are over, across the country, And also the cost of housing has gone up. The cost of apartments has gone up along with the cost of almost everything else in terms of basic necessities.

NIALA: Are there parts of the country where evictions are more prominent than others?

ALEX: One place that we saw a really notable spike was in the Twin Cities area. Filings are at about 300 a week right now compared to just about 20 during the pandemic, when the evictions moratorium was in effect. So I think that shows a really striking example of the difference that we're seeing now.

NIALA: In places where this is a particularly acute problem, are there efforts to help curb this?

ALEX: There are a number of cities are either expanding or launching programs to curb the eviction crisis. Examples are in Philadelphia, Cleveland, New York City. Uh, and what those programs look like is either direct financial relief, for tenants who are having trouble paying their bills. And some, some have the efforts to sort of just mediate disputes between landlords and tenants, rather than going right to court, right? There's also a pretty strong movement right now to sort of pass what are called good cause bills.

New York, for example, it's failed a couple of times, but there's some real momentum behind it as a statewide bill. Basically what this means is, you know, a landlord would have to have what's called good cause to evict somebody. Which in most cases means a direct violation of the lease agreement. The New York bill in particular would also limit major rent increases, which would be pretty helpful for tenants across the state.

NIALA: And so if people are not paying their rent, is that considered good cause for an eviction?

ALEX: It is, yeah. But another part of it is just like landlords wanting to spike the rent. And people can't pay that. And, you know, sometimes landlords look for opportunities within the lease to say, oh, you violated this or this, that isn't the rent payment, right? So we're gonna kick you out to find somebody who can pay this higher rent that we want to charge them.

NIALA: Alex, what do the researchers at the eviction lab say is the most effective tool for helping prevent evictions? Is it the direct financial relief, or is it this mediation in helping step in between landlords and tenants?

ALEX: It's a combination of those things because look, if you're a policymaker, you have to sort of acknowledge it. Yes, like obviously you don't want people kicked out onto the street because the eviction crisis very quickly becomes a homelessness crisis, and that's much harder to solve. But also, you know, you wanna make sure that landlords are able to pay their own bills.

I think from their perspective, what they've said is like, what they're doing is really the starting place. Because like, there's no nationwide data set for evictions. So they're really, starting from a place of just collecting data to, to show that this is a problem in these cities. And then from there figure out like, okay, this is what the numbers are and this is what we can do about it.

NIALA: Alex Fitzpatrick is the editor of Axios’ What's Next Newsletter. We'll include a link to Alex's reporting and more about the eviction lab in our show notes. Thanks Alex.

ALEX: Sure, no problem.

What’s at stake with today’s Fed announcement

NIALA: It’s a big day for the Federal Reserve - its Open Markets Committee - the FOMC - has been meeting in Washington, which means today, we’re expected to hear whether or not the Fed will raise interest rates. Usually - Fed watchers know what to expect. But Axios’ Neil Irwin is here to explain why we’re in the dark - and what that says about our economy right now.

NEIL IRWIN: We're in a very unusual situation where there's genuine uncertainty about what the Federal Reserve is going to choose to do, and that's because they face a complicated set of cross-cutting impulses and challenges. On the one hand inflation stays high and inflation keeps coming in higher than the Fed wants than anybody wants, and the Fed has signaled over and over they're gonna keep raising interest rates until the job is done, until that high inflation is vanquished. They've signaled for a long time that they're gonna keep raising interest rates through this meeting that gets announced this afternoon.

On the other hand, we've had this banking crisis the last couple of weeks that has really, possibly, changed the economic outlook and might tighten credit across the economy in ways that essentially do the Fed's job for it and bring inflation down, slow the economy, slow demand. The question is, which of those prevails, which of those is more urgent? And, uh, one way or another, the Fed has to decide what they're gonna do. Are they gonna raise interest rates a quarter point or maybe even more? Or do they leave them stable and do not raise rates. We're gonna find out at 2:00 PM today. And then Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is gonna do a press conference at 2:30. We have a lot of questions for Chairman Powell, so we're looking forward to seeing what happens.

NIALA: That’s Axios’ Chief Economic Correspondent Neil Irwin. You can follow Neil on Twitter for the latest from today’s meeting and we’ll also have updates at axios.com.

NIALA: Before we go, just a reminder that this podcast is free. So you don't have to subscribe to us, but please make sure you're following us that way so you won't miss an episode.

You can always send us feedback by emailing podcast at axios dot com or you can text me. All that information is in our show notes.

I’m Niala Boodhoo - thanks for listening - stay safe and we’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.