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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- John Bickley: Social media platform TikTok is coming under more fire over the issue of privacy, this time from the British government. There are regulators somewhere in the world holding TikTok accountable, but we need legislation that is up to date. What is the Chinese social media platform being accused of now? And what actions are U.S. lawmakers considering to rein in damage from the app?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, September 30th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: New York City's Democratic mayor is attempting to blame his city's struggle with an influx of illegal migrants on the Republican governor of Texas. A crisis requires coordination. Governor Abbott did not coordinate at all. We discussed the latest on the bruising political feud over the border. And the increase in organized and sometimes violent gangs of shoplifters are forcing major retailers to lock up merchandise. We've allowed criminal networks to create a business model selling stolen goods online, and that is what's put this problem on steroids. What's causing the rise in retail theft? And what are stores doing about it?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The social media app TikTok continues to face security concerns from governments around the world. The latest example comes from the UK, where the company is looking at a $29 million fine for failing to protect the privacy of children. Joining us now to tell us more about why the British government may impose financial penalties on TikTok is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- [Megan Basham speaks]
--:-- Megan Basham: So, essentially, the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK, that's the department that regulates online privacy, investigated TikTok for collecting the data of children under 13 without their parents' permission. Now, this investigation covered the period from May 2018 to July 2020. So specifically, the ICO believes TikTok may have breached protections for what they call special category data. What that means is that they gathered information on the ethnic and racial origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation of users. And the ICO issued the platform a notice of intent. Now, that's a legal notification alerting the company that they're being investigated and could face a fine. In this case, as John said, a fine of nearly $30 million.
--:-- Megan Basham: A separate investigation conducted earlier by the UK media regulator found that about a third of five to seven in the country use TikTok. Yet in the past, TikTok has denied it has any users under the age of 13. So how can they make that claim? Well, essentially, it's a legal distinction predicated on the terms of service. So according to internal documents obtained by the tech news outlet Gizmodo, the company's PR department advises employees to say, quoting here, "The app is only for users aged 13 and over according to our terms and conditions. Therefore, in relation to our users, we may speak of young people, but not of children." So kind of a technicality there. But from a legal basis, kids under 13 aren't supposed to be on the platform at all.
--:-- Megan Basham: And how has TikTok responded to this? So the company put out a fairly short statement saying, again, quoting, "While we respect the ICO's role in safeguarding privacy in the UK, we disagree with the preliminary views expressed and intend to formally respond to the ICO in due course." And that's all they've said for now.
--:-- Megan Basham: And where do things stand with TikTok in the US? When we talked about this a couple months ago, there was bipartisan calls for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the platform. And the FCC was urging Google and Apple to drop it from their online stores. Has there been any forward motion on that? No, there really hasn't. And that is pretty concerning. I know you'll remember, Georgia, that the former chief software officer for the Air Force told us TikTok isn't just a national security risk. It's actually a weapons system for China. And that's not a characterization that leaders on either side of the political aisle have really disputed.
--:-- Megan Basham: And yet, in a New York Times story published this week, several anonymous sources said that the Biden administration is reportedly considering a deal that requires the app to make changes to its data security, but will allow it to continue being owned by a Chinese company. And as we know from leaked documents, TikTok is aware that China has backdoor access to users' data. Experts say the only way that's going to change is if a Chinese company no longer owns it.
--:-- Megan Basham: Morningwire spoke to Will Thiebaud, policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation's Tech Policy Center. And here's what he had to say about the potential agreement between the White House and ByteDance. Most of the reports I've read about this agreement would not actually change the data at scale or type to which TikTok, the app, would be able to access U.S. user data. It would change how that data is stored and secured, perhaps, but it wouldn't actually change the information that the application scrapes from American users.
--:-- Megan Basham: So that really doesn't change. And I think that's part of the frankly warranted skepticism that many Republicans like Senator Rubio are expressing when hearing of these reports. Well, we still need to find out if they still have access to your information after you delete the app. We've been trying to get a straight answer to that, and it's been difficult.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. Coming up, New York City Mayor Eric Adams says Texas Governor Greg Abbott's to blame for the city's immigration problem. Hey there, producer Colton here. Do you like to be the first to know about trendy news and current events? If so, you got to get the Daily Wire Plus app. Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something happening, but you also have access to the best commentary to break it all down. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- John Bickley: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is blaming Texas Governor Greg Abbott for an influx of illegal aliens that's buckling the city's social and welfare systems. Here to discuss the border crisis and the feud between Abbott and Adams over the porous U.S. southern border is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- [Tim Pierce speaks]
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, Tim, Adams has been sounding the alarm over Abbott's busing program for a few weeks now, and we have some more fireworks here. What do we need to know? Hey, John. Well, the rhetoric has escalated here, delivered with a bit more urgency now as New York City quickly runs out of capacity to care for these migrants. For perspective, it's important to know that the numbers of migrants that New York City is dealing with here is a fraction of what border towns and cities have been forced to cope with for years at this point.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That being said, New York City's social services appear to be really strained, and Adams is under pressure to find a solution. And while he does that, he's blaming Governor Abbott for causing the problem. So blaming Abbott, is that fair? How much of this is a direct result of Abbott's busing program? In short, it's not fair. Abbott has bussed several thousand illegal aliens into New York City over the past several months. But if you really track where the migrants that Adams is complaining about are coming from, only about 20% are coming to the city from Abbott's program.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Many of the rest are coming through other means. For instance, the city of El Paso, with federal help we should note, has transported about 30% of the aliens that Adams is complaining about. But those numbers really only matter if you believe that Abbott is somehow responsible for the illegal aliens being in the U.S. in the first place. Which, of course, he isn't. States have no authority over immigration policy. Once migrants are released into the U.S., they are free to travel, and Abbott says that his busing program is just helping facilitate migrants getting to the places they were going to go anyway.
--:-- Tim Pierce: After all, Abbott's program is voluntary, and no migrant is transported that doesn't want to be. El Paso's Democratic mayor Oscar Leeser made a similar point in an appearance on Fox News last week. I think it's important when we're talking about this morning that we take the politics out of this and understand that we have a lot of people coming across into El Paso. But they're not coming to El Paso. They're coming to the United States. And it's important that we sit there and look and see where they want to go. There's a big difference. You know, you talk about they're being bussed. They're being taken to their next destination, where they want to go. We're not sending anybody where they don't want to go.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, so the obvious question, why is Adams singling out Abbott? Well, Adams says that the difference between El Paso's and Abbott's busing programs is that Leeser has been in communication with the city, whereas Abbott has singled New York City out for its sanctuary city policies. Adams has also been hesitant to come out hard against President Biden's immigration policies, though the mayor is pushing the Biden administration for aid to deal with the aliens that the city now has to support.
--:-- John Bickley: Adams told the New York Post earlier this week that the situation is not fair to New Yorkers and, quote, "we should not have to trade off dealing with the needs of New Yorkers and dealing with the needs of migrants and asylum seekers." That sounds a little like something a Republican might say.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. Tim, thanks for reporting. Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire's Tim Pierce. We've seen dozens of viral videos showing mobs of criminals entering retail stores and filling bags with merchandise as employees look on helplessly. The National Retail Federation says that more than 72 percent of retailers have seen an increase in shoplifting, and they're finally taking action to avoid costly merchandise losses. Here were the details on how this is affecting the consumer experience as Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- [Charlotte Pence Bond speaks]
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So, if you go into a store lately, you may find yourself asking for assistance to get items normally found on the shelves. That's because the stores are locking up their merchandise to avoid being robbed. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Best Buy and Home Depot are keeping high-value goods locked up in secure areas. If you go to a Best Buy to purchase a Fitbit or a high-end speaker, the items are no longer on the shelf. You have to pull a card and wait for an employee to help you.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Meanwhile, many stores are understaffed. Best Buy said it's not hiding more product as a whole than it did previously, but it's doing so where it's necessary. All right, so we have retailers locking up more stuff than they normally do. What about the customer experience? Is there evidence that this is affecting sales? That's definitely a concern for shareholders and customers.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: One Best Buy analyst actually said people should sell their stock this summer after he saw how a lot of stores were locking up or not displaying merchandise. These safety precautions are definitely changing the shopping experience. But sometimes it's a good thing. For example, Scott Glenn, vice president of asset protection at Home Depot, said that sales will go up steadily after a commonly stolen product is protected because stores will be able to maintain their stock.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So is this data mainly coming from during the pandemic or is this problem continuing afterwards? Retail theft definitely spiked during COVID, but it's still higher than it was before the pandemic. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce found in a survey this month that 56% of small businesses said they were attacked by shoplifters over the past year. 50% thought the issue had gotten worse and 46% had increased their prices because of it.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And a survey released this month by the National Retail Federation found that the amount of retail shrink experienced, which is an industry term for inventory loss to theft, rose from $91 billion in 2020 to $94.5 billion in 2021. The uptick in theft has also been associated with increasing violence in retail settings. Around 89% of retailers in the survey said they believe the pandemic led to more violence.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Now, we've also reported that changes in law enforcement policies coinciding with the pandemic could also be contributing to these trends. Does that seem correct? Right. For example, things like Proposition 47 in California decriminalized theft under $950 back in 2014. But even more importantly, a variety of progressive DAs around the country have shied away from prosecuting petty theft, especially since the death of George Floyd.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The general sense of lawlessness in some parts of the country has led store owners to take security into their own hands. For example, this happened in California in May when workers went after a group of thieves that broke into a jewelry store. We had an idea that it could happen, but it's always different when it actually does happen to you. At some point while I was fighting them, one of them actually hit me in the head with a hammer just on the side of my left temple. And I didn't even register it until after they left because I think there's just so much adrenaline going on.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: I'm just glad everyone's okay, and I'm glad that our team banded together and were able to put up a fight and stop what was happening. Some employees at Best Buy are even getting trained on how to stand nearby commonly stolen merchandise, likely as a deterrent. Our workers' union in Colorado and Wyoming even brokered a contract that made sure employees have the right to self-defense if a consumer comes after them.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, I think most people around the country have experienced at least some of these changes in retail stores. Charlotte, thanks for reporting. Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. Another story we're tracking this week. Six states, all led by Republicans, are suing the Biden administration to halt the president's plan to forgive student loan debt estimated to cost some $400 billion. The lawsuit accuses President Biden of having overstepped his authority in a unilateral move.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stay with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with the news you need to know.
