Reuters World News - TikTok’s ultimate live battle — Capitol Hill

Episode Date: March 23, 2023

TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew heads to Capitol Hill to fend off a potential U.S. ban. Uganda’s LGBTQ+ community fight for survival after law threatens them with jail and even death. Is the Fed done hiking for now? Plus, New York on tenterhooks as Trump grand jury skips Wednesday meeting and Boris Johnson back in the spotlight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today. Hi everyone. It's show here. I'm the CEO of TikTok. A high-stakes performance on Capitol Hill. The head of the Chinese-owned app is in Washington, trying to fend off a potential nationwide ban. And in Uganda, a new law threatens the LGBTQ plus community with jail and even the death penalty. We speak to an activist advocating for their rights as the law cracks down.

It's Thursday, March 23rd. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vennel in London. First, the headlines from around the world. The Fed may be pressing the pause button on future interest rate hikes. We no longer state that we anticipate that ongoing rate increases will be appropriate to quell inflation. Instead, we now anticipate that some additional policy affirming may be appropriate. That's Jerome Powell, speaking after the central bank increased borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point. The central bank is trying to balance the fight against inflation while ensuring

the financial system remains stable. The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank has made that more difficult. All eyes now turn to the Bank of England. A surprise jump in inflation in the UK has squashed hopes of a pause and rate hikes, and investors are now expecting a quarter percentage point rate increase. And while the Fed did meet yesterday, the grand jury investigating hush money allegations against Donald Trump did not, meaning that New York remains on tentahooks, waiting to see if the former president will be arrested and made to do the perp walk into a downtown courthouse.

If indicted, Trump would be the first US president, current or former, to face criminal charges. The panel, which is believed to meet three times a week, could reconvene on Thursday at the earliest. And while we wait for the potential appearance of one former world leader before the authorities, Britain's Boris Johnson is back in the spotlight in London. I am here to say to you, hand on heart, that I did not lie to the House. A committee of lawmakers is investigating whether the former Prime Minister deliberately misled

parliament of a parties held in Downing Street during the COVID pandemic. Johnson vigorously defended himself. But if the committee finds he did deliberately mislead lawmakers, then he could be suspended. And if he's suspended for more than 10 days, that could trigger an election to remove him from his parliamentary seat and end his political career. Thank you very much. I much enjoyed our discussion. Well, I think it's been a useful. I genuinely think it's been a useful discussion. The decision will come in the coming weeks. If not now, when. That is an opportunity that doesn't belong to the politicians,

it belongs to every Australian equally. Prime Minister Anthony Albanesey fought back tears as he urged Australians to amend the Constitution and create a consultative committee called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice. Australia is seeking to give more recognition to its Indigenous people, who've been there 60,000 years,

but are not mentioned in the 122-year-old constitution. Cocaine use is on the rise in Europe. That's according to a study by a European drugs monitoring agency. The highest usage was found in Belgium, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. Traces of cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis were collected from samples over a one week period last spring. Cocaine usage has been on the rise since 2016, the study shows, while more cities than before had traces of crystal meth. Russian airstrikes attack Ukrainian cities. An apartment building burns from gaping holes torn by Russian missiles.

But a month's long ground assault on the eastern town of Bakhmud could be stalling in the face of fierce resistance. Mike Collette White, our editor at Large in Kiev, sent us this recent dispatch. So I'm in a trench near a mortar position, about three kilometres from the closest Russians. There's a lot of artillery fire going over our head from far away, and you can hear the thud of the incoming in the distance, which is Bahmoud. We're in between there and Chasiv Yar, with the Ukrainian mortar position. A little further west is the town of Chasif Yar, where some citizens have refused to leave their homes,

despite the constant thundering of mortars in the distance. We are pretty close to the front here. We've come in with an evacuation team that is trying to convince those who remain to get out of here. It is a dangerous place. There are a few civilians remaining, and I'm at a point between apartment blocks where people are collecting water from a volunteer group that's handing it out to locals who've decided to stay. To me, it's extraordinary they do, given that every few seconds you hear the loud crash of outgoing artillery and the sometimes louder crash of incoming.

But extraordinary how these people adjust and even laugh when you take cover. There's some small arms fire there. Betts might call it white on the front lines. To Capitol Hill and a battle over the future of TikTok, some lawmakers want to ban it over national security concerns. That's got content creators worried. A TikTok ban wouldn't just put my business at risk. 95% of my livelihood would disappear overnight.

The company's CEO heads to Congress today for a grilling over how TikTok uses the data it collects on its 150 million-plus American users. Shōji Chu is going to tell lawmakers that his company has never and would never share that data with the Chinese government. But will Washington buy it? Reuters correspondent David Shepardson has been covering the story out of D.C. So David, how important is this testimony? This is the highest profile testimony by TikTok in front of Congress.

And I think it's going into it. You know, the TikTok has had a bunch of meetings and he has been on the hill privately meeting with lawmakers. But to date has not been able to convince anyone to change their mind. What proof does the U.S. have that this is being used as a way to be. spy. The government has offered no evidence of specific data being seized or used by the Chinese government. We don't know that. There's a lot of pressure for the U.S. government to do more to show what real evidence they have, if any, that this is actually being used by the Chinese government, given how popular the app is in the United States. So where are we at with a potential ban?

So some states have moved ahead about 30 states in banning TikTok and government devices, but the road ahead for a ban on all U.S. devices is still somewhat unclear. However, there is a lot of momentum behind a bill in the Senate that's now co-sponsored by 18 senators, nine of each party, that would give the Biden administration sweeping new legal tools to ban TikTok if they wanted. Then President Donald Trump tried to do this in 2020, but he was shut down partly because of concerns over free speech protections. So what's the legal? recourse here? So without new legislation, it would be difficult, potentially impossible for the administration to ban TikTok. Whatever happens, it's not going to be banned overnight. David,

thank you. Oh, you're welcome. Uganda's parliament has passed a law, making it a crime to even identify as LGBTQ, even imposing the death penalty in certain cases. The White House has condemned it as one of the most extreme, anti-LGBQ laws in the world. Here to discuss the repercussions is our Africa chief visuals producer Anne Mawath. So, Anne, in these circumstances, it takes great courage to be out. We spoke to Frank Mugisha, one of the few Ugandan's living openly as gay. What were some of his main concerns?

He is concerned that the new law, if implemented, will trigger mass arrests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons and mob violence towards LGBTQ communities. Some LGBTQ persons are not scared of the law as much as they are scared of their families, their friends, the media outing them and finding out who they are. Mugisha has also said he'll challenge the law as unconstitutional. How likely is it to ever be enforced?

Is it just a stance by the government? President Mosevic has been consistent on where he stands in regard to the LGBTQ community and are signalled that he does not view the issue as a priority and would prefer to maintain good relations with Western donors and investors. So how he maintains the good relations with Western donors and investors

and still goes ahead with this law? I am really not certain. And he might want to be seen to be very vocal about it and still not signing it into law. Something might come. up, a technical issue that this doesn't sail through. Elsewhere in the world in some traditionally religious or conservative countries like Ireland, there have been big steps for gay rights in recent years.

Is there any sense of that kind of movement in Uganda? I think I would say right now is just the fight for survival, just the fight to just be. If even the recognition of you as a person as you existing as a right is already an issue. Anne, thank you. That's it for Reuters World News. Ramadan Mubarak for those of you observing the Islamic Holy Month. We'll be back on Friday. In the meantime, you can find more trusted news at Reuters.com.