It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy.

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Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, in the foreground, speaks into a microphone to members of the press after a members-only classified briefing on TikTok March 12. Reporters holding recording devices are seen in the background, off to the right. Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, in the foreground, speaks into a microphone to members of the press after a members-only classified briefing on TikTok March 12. Reporters holding recording devices are seen in the background, off to the right. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy. We think of it as a mini-magazine in your inbox.

THE TIKTOK BATTLE, EXPLAINED
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews ([link removed])
Correspondent

If you are a TikTok user, or if you answer the phones at a Capitol Hill office, you know the social media giant is engaged in an existential battle with Congress.

There are a few layers here. But complexity does not have to be confusing. We think we can provide a simple breakdown of the situation.

The basics:
* TikTok is owned by ByteDance,a company based in China.
* On this point, everyone agrees.
* AND many agree on what Congress is considering: A bill that would force ByteDance to either sell TikTok to a wholly owned American company or face a ban. That bill raced through committee ([link removed]) last week and could get a vote on the House floor Wednesday.
* But from there, the discussion diverges into two diametric camps.

What U.S. critics say:
* ByteDance, as a media company in China, is subject to the rules of the Chinese Communist Party.
* The company has a separate Chinese business, a counterpart to TikTok, called Douyin. The Communist Party owns a small stake in the company. And a party official named Wu Shugang was appointed to sit on Douyin’s board in the past three years.
* A company whistleblower last year alleged in a lawsuit that the company had placed a backdoor opening in its software that could allow it to access U.S. user data.
* This kind of data and how many users it involves could pose myriad security risks for U.S. officials and individuals, as well as the potential for spreading disinformation aimed at the U.S. public in general.
* This Associated Press story ([link removed]) is a good deep dive on why some see a national security threat here.

WhatTikTok argues:
* It has spent more than $1 billion dollars on “Project Texas,” ([link removed]) through which it has paid Oracle to keep U.S. TikTok data in the U.S.
* TikTok also pushes back against the idea that it is “Chinese-owned,” writing that, “roughly 60 percent of the company is beneficially owned by global institutional investors such as Carlyle Group, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna International Group.” It has said the remaining 40 percent is held by TikTok employees and the company’s founder, who is Chinese but based in Singapore.
* In addition, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance touts that three of the five members of its board of directors are Americans.
* And finally, TikTok argues that other U.S. companies operating in China, like Disney, have agreed to Chinese Communist Party regulations in order to stay in business there.

There is more that we do not know about why national security officials see TikTok as a specific threat. But members of Congress have received classified briefings on that topic, including one happening today.

Now, we wait for a high-stakes debate and vote, when TikTok’s estimated 170 million users, their data security and their ability to express themselves will all be on the line.


More on politics from our coverage:
* One Big Question: As global migration surges, the trafficking industry is booming ([link removed]) . What does this mean for people trying to reach the U.S. southern border? Amna Nawaz reports from Mexico’s border with Guatemala, where she’s met migrants from around the world.
* Watch: Amy Walter and Tamara Keith on how President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are approaching immigration ([link removed]) .
* A Closer Look: What to know about a growing GOP divide over Trump support and the party’s future ([link removed])
* Perspectives: Why many Americans feel unhappy about the economy ([link removed]) despite indicators of improvement

#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Erica R. Hendry, @ericarhendry ([link removed])
Senior managing editor, digital

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are poised to earn enough delegates from primary voting over the next week to clear their respective party thresholds for presidential nominations.

As a reminder, party nominees for president officially won’t be chosen until the Republican and Democratic National Conventions this summer. But Pew Research, looking back to all presidential races since 1972 ([link removed]) , called this one of the shortest cycles in the modern era.

By Pew’s calculations, Trump’s rise this year to presumptive nominee will likely come 244 days before the election in November. Back in 2004, John Kerry became the likely Democratic nominee with the same number of days remaining before the general election, according to Pew.

Our question: There is only one major party nominee who “clinched” a party nomination in a shorter amount of time. Who was it ?

Send your answers to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.

Last week, we asked: Who was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for president at a major party convention?

The answer: Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine at the 1964 Republican National Convention. There, she received 27 votes on the first ballot ([link removed](1964)%20%2D,at%20the%20Republican%20National%20Convention) .

Congratulations to our winners: Brenda Radford and Barry Weinstein!

Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.

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