I never really understood the panic over TikTok. Is the fear about security, or is the fear that China might actually have successful social media product in the US?
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Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
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Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#52What happens when Google is left out of having a social media business when most of the things are happening in the social media these days? They tried few times and looks like gave up.
They still have youtube which is in a league of its own and while it may not be consiered a "social network" it's still definitely social media, arguably more than even TikTok could be considered as.
Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disagree, this would give MS a strong foothold in social media that the next generation is flocking too.
If you haven't noticed, the pendulum is swinging towards decentralized, distributed computing systems. This has happened previously in history (mainframe -> PC, back to Cloud Computing, and now to edge/IoT). If you want to "skate where the puck is going" you would be paying attention to the open web standards space.
Any standards in particular?
Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#54Hopefully it will be rebranded MikMok or ZuneZok. This seems like a dumb move, why would MS want to get tied up in the horrors of social media when they have such a profitable empire. They couldn’t possibly tie in MicMok to Office 365 and have anything good come from it.
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Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#55I never really understood the panic over TikTok. Is the fear about security, or is the fear that China might actually have successful social media product in the US?
The fear is that any large Chinese project holding the personal data of Americans is inherently a security concern. It wouldn't be a big issue if Tiktok were French or Korean or something.
This is exactly it. There's widespread fear that China is buying its way into the personal data of billions through its state-sponsored businesses like Huawei and ByteDance.
Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#56How would that even function in practice? I am honestly baffled at this. If Trump is so eager to hinder TikTok (China's influence), then he should just ban the company like he did with Huawei and be done with it. The instant he does it, TikTok is doomed (internationally), they are a pure digital product.
Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#57Not sure if this is good. There is now a new trending app that is eating up TikTok users, its called Triller. Same concept but US made I think.
What happens if MSFT buy TikTok only for the users to migrate to the new flavour of the social media app.
Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fear is that any large Chinese project holding the personal data of Americans is inherently a security concern. It wouldn't be a big issue if Tiktok were French or Korean or something.
This is exactly it. There's widespread fear that China is buying its way into the personal data of billions through its state-sponsored businesses like Huawei and ByteDance.
Is TikTok really state-sponsored? Do you have any source?
Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#59Hopefully it will be rebranded MikMok or ZuneZok. This seems like a dumb move, why would MS want to get tied up in the horrors of social media when they have such a profitable empire. They couldn’t possibly tie in MicMok to Office 365 and have anything good come from it.
Data, Data, Data and Data
Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations
#60I never really understood the panic over TikTok. Is the fear about security, or is the fear that China might actually have successful social media product in the US?
Speaking personally, here's why TikTok concerns me: TikTok is a Chinese business, and China has shown no limit to how much it will meddle in the affairs of and even take control of Chinese businesses for the furthering of the Chinese state's agenda.
Simultaneously, TikTok has captured the daily attention spans of millions of Americans, many of them especially young and impressionable. They've captured their attention in the form of a black box algorithm that promotes content in whichever way TikTok deems most appropriate.
These two facts mean that the Chinese government now has direct access to the brains of millions of young Americans, with zero oversight. Imagine China subtly promoting videos to create outrage and civil unrest in the US, or to feed anti-US propaganda to germinate terrorist groups in the US. These might sound like far flung possibilities, but I think it's hard to say what a country that views the US as its enemy (politically, economically, philosophically) might do with that kind of power, and I don't think we can wait to find out.