Tiktok goes to Washington; Biden goes to Canada; Mosquitos go to Florida

Plus, the FTC wants to help you cancel your subscriptions more easily.

View this email online by Suzanne Nuyen Good morning.  Mark your calendars. Five planets — Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars — will be visible next to the moon in a few days.  Here’s what else we’re following today. 🥇 First up  Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images TikTok goes to Washington today. The social media company’s CEO will testify before Congress this morning as lawmakers consider a ban on the app. 🎧 On the Up First podcast this morning, NPR’s Bobby Allyn explains how the laws in China have created a cloud of suspicion around TikTok. Because businesses there are required to provide customer information at the government’s request, lawmakers fear the Chinese government could seize data on the app’s 150 million U.S. users. ➡️ Those 150 million users aren’t going to make it easy to enact a ban. Dozens of TikTok influencers and content creators — whose livelihoods often depend on social media — gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday at an event organized by the company to tell lawmakers how the app is central to their lives.  ➡️ The app isn’t just important to influencers making money on it. It’s entwined in the fabric of our lives. Almost every other major social media platform has changed its features to mimic TikTok, and the app is setting the discourse on beauty standards, finance, environmentalism and overconsumption, music, books and more. Is there anything more frustrating than trying to cancel an online subscription? The FTC knows the struggle, and it’s proposing a new “click to cancel” provision that would require sellers like newspapers and gyms to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up. 🎧 FTC Chair Lina Khan told NPR’s Leila Fadel on Morning Edition today that companies would incur a $50,000 fine per violation per day, and the provision would “enable us to get back money for consumers that are harmed.” Biden is making his first trip to Canada as president today to address Parliament and meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The topics include Ukraine and climate action. But the crisis in Haiti, where armed gangs have taken control, looms large. The U.S. has suggested that Canada lead a multinational mission to help the country, but on Up First this morning, NPR’s Franco Ordoñez says Trudeau didn’t seem fond of the idea, saying outside intervention has failed in the past.  Get ready to get mad! The March Madness Sweet 16 tournament begins today for men and tomorrow for women. On Up First, NPR’s Tom Goldman says we should keep an eye out on Princeton, and highlights the growing popularity of the women’s tournament.  Manhattan grand jury could indict Donald Trump soon for a case that centers on hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The former president has survived several investigations already, and faces even more beyond the Daniels case. Read about the active ones.   Newsletter continues after sponsor message 🤿 Deep Dive J. Scott Applewhite/AP The clock is ticking for President Biden and Republicans in Congress to come to an agreement on the debt ceiling. The Department of Treasury has been taking what it calls “extraordinary measures” to pay the government’s bills. Here’s how we got into this mess: 💰 There’s only been a handful of years in the past half-century where the nation hasn’t spent more than it collected in taxes. The government must borrow to cover the overspending, creating the national debt. 💰 Lifting the debt ceiling — a limit on total government borrowing — has been a fairly routine vote. It’s been raised 78 times since 1960. But there’s been a growing partisan divide in recent years.  💰 Social Security and Medicare, the defense budget and interest on the debt are the biggest contributors to growing debt. The Fed’s upping of interest rates means the government is paying more on the debt, leaving less money for spending. 💰 A default would be disastrous: Government workers and Social Security recipients would go unpaid. It would be more difficult to borrow money, and a recession would be all but certain. 💰 But paying down the debt could also mess with the domestic and global economies, due to their reliance on investments in U.S. treasuries. 📷 ​​Picture Show Michelle Wickstrom / Jess Burton / Joan Neubecker  Pablo Picasso had Lump the dachshund. Frida Kahlo had monkeys and parrots. Pets have inspired artists for generations. We asked NPR listeners to send us your pet-inspired artwork, and the submissions we received were all masterpieces.  🛑 Before you go University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Wake up babe, a new mosquito just dropped. The arrival of the Culex lactator mosquito in Florida is worrying scientists, who don’t know how it got there. Be careful if you get a call from a panicked relative. The FTC issued a consumer alert this week warning consumers about scam calls using AI voice clones.  Sometimes you just want pancakes. Two men escaped from a Virginia jail Monday using a tool made from a toothbrush, only to be caught at a nearby IHOP the next morning. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WBEZ (edit station). Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? 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