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Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

businessinsider.com

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Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#511

Post by patagurbon »

FourthProtocol wrote: post #297
tboughen wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding of the 2018 CLOUD act is that a US headquartered cloud vendor must hand over subpoenaed customer data even if the datacentre is outside the USA. https://www.dlapiper.com/en/us/insights/publications/2018/04...

Indeed. This (CLOUD) of course runs counter to GDPR. Comply with one and fall foul of the other.

Do we have any evidence that a company has been forced into a situation like this yet? Where they've been required by the US to turn over data but prevented by the GDPR? I feel like that would've been big news, but surely it's happened already.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#512

Post by sterlind »

tboughen wrote: post #242
freehunter wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every major cloud vendor has zones outside the US. Just because you’re hosted on Azure doesn’t mean you’re hosted in the US or that US law applies to you.

My understanding of the 2018 CLOUD act is that a US headquartered cloud vendor must hand over subpoenaed customer data even if the datacentre is outside the USA. https://www.dlapiper.com/en/us/insights/publications/2018/04...

This is the rationale between sovereign clouds like Azure Germany, I think. In that case Microsoft provides the software and design, but the whole cloud is operated by EU citizens and no Americans have direct access. The idea being that Microsoft couldn't be compelled to hand over data because it has no access. I'm sure AWS (and maybe GCP) have such things by now.

Disclaimer: I work in Azure but not on this, so my info may be wrong.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#513

Post by lern_too_spel »

Lammy wrote: post #14

> Gasparino also reported the White House is "deeply concerned" about Microsoft's potential purchase and whether any Chinese investors would retain a stake in TikTok's US operations, citing unnamed sources. And there's the lede. Consider this "story in two headlines" from an earlier high-profile Microsoft acquisition: "NSA offering 'billions' for Skype eavesdrop solution" https://www.theregister.com/2009/02/12/nsa_of…

Snowden's leaks showed the government could wiretap Skype calls since at least 2010, when the FBI's Skype wiretaps started being ingested into PRISM. Your conspiracy theory for why Microsoft would buy Skype in 2011 doesn't survive even the most rudimentary investigation.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#514

Post by wendyshu »

throwaway78359 wrote: post #283
jychang wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think it’s a good play, the same way buying Minecraft was a good idea. You’re talking about a company that made Halo and Minecraft the face of its consumer gaming brand, calls their AI assistant “Cortana”, and their internal windows builds “redstone”. Tiktok doesn’t make sense if you think of Microsoft as “not a social media company”, but it’s a part of a push to engage the GenZ audience that started with…

I have absolutely zero faith in our ability to execute on the consumer side with this type of product. We couldn’t even make an also-ran Twitch competitor, despite literally owning one of the major consoles and being the platform for 99.99% of all PC games. Minecraft was a good acquisition. Xbox, by and large, has made good acquisitions. But the rumor isn’t Xbox is buying TikTok, it’s Microsoft. I would argue that wi…

Do companies have a fixed DNA that acquisitions can't change or can companies use acquisitions to evolve into something different?

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#515

Post by devenblake »

sanxiyn wrote: post #122
devenblake wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use TikTok a lot (there are >1M combined views on my videos) and I've never heard of it. A lot of good TikTokers from before the app really took off went to Byte (made by the dudes that made Vine) and it seems like Byte is the logical successor. I expect most users will migrate eventually. TikTok had its charms because it was completely mismanaged. The discover feed had a mix between popular (>1M likes) and very un…

> TikTok had its charms because it was completely mismanaged. The discover feed had a mix between popular (>1M likes) and very unpopular (1-30 likes) videos and very odd videos, like someone slowly crushing a hornet to death inside a syringe, get popular often. Why is that a mismanagement? You said it yourself, it has its charms. (And I agree with you.) What is the goal of discover feed if not to have "its charms"? T…

That was a bad example. A better one is that TikTok has no consistent guidelines on what videos are allowed on their platform. A video I made with "\actually buys heroin like a boss\" was allowed to stay up on the platform, but then another one with the same text was `Removed for violating Community Guidelines`. Someone I knew had their account taken down for pretending to, well, hump an anime body pillow, and yet they'd been featured in TikTok advertisements months before.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#516

Post by bagacrap »

dijit wrote: post #487
thinkloop wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do countries, including China, mandate companies use their servers in various cases?

"Their servers" implies that it's something they own. In fact it's more about ensuring that data is living inside their legislative boundaries. The servers are not owned by China/EU/US states; they're still owned by the companies that operate them, just the data isn't exfiltrated to be outside the reach of the police.

arguably sovereign property doesn't exist in China

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#517

Post by bagacrap »

thrownaway954 wrote: post #82
jtmarmon wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

"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." our president is doing a fine job of that now with his twitter account.

and according to many, his election was partially a result of foreign tampering

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#518

Post by bagacrap »

uses wrote: post #126

I wonder what the ownership transfer of a multi-billion dollar app looks like? Like, what emails, button clicks, phone calls, etc, is involved in changing the ownership of the iOS app from one party to another? Presumably it's a different process from like, a toy app with zero downloads?

I am more interested to know how you cut up the actual content. A user from Japan liked a video from an American user a year ago, what happens to that? Are the users still on the same tiktok shard? Do we somehow remove all foreign interaction from the American shard? Do users from Canada get to choose which shard to go with?

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#519

Post by bagacrap »

bigpumpkin wrote: post #19
km3r wrote: post #8

How does an international app separate its operations enough to have a full distinct US operation? Will they be able to see post from someone in Canada? in China? Will China be able to see post from US users? Seems like something that needs to be all or nothing.

You make another Douyin, but for the US only, call it Musicaly, with US data sovereignty and censorship. Creators from outside the US can make an account on it and reach American audiences. But Americans can no longer use the international version of Tiktok.

but what happens to past data

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#520

Post by jianshen »

gexla wrote: post #491
robbrown451 wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are odd questions to me. I can understand why someone might not care about having some level of "internet fame." But I can't really understand how someone can not get how that can be rewarding to many. Do you understand why people are rewarded by an audience applauding them? Do you understand why a musician would be excited to hear their song on the radio? As for how they know the views are real... do you think…

I don't know the intent of the questions, but they do seem reasonable. Rewarding: Creators would also be interested in how engaged those viewers are. How well can this traffic convert into services which the creator might offer outside of TikTok? Would that traffic be worth the time of creating professional videos? Real: This is a great question. Are the views real? I still have the story of Facebook faking video eng…

I'm fine with the questions but I still think people are missing my point.

This is NOT for professional videos. The whole point is just regular people showcasing some small talent they might have hidden away and thru the algorithm you start to discover these amazingly talented regular people that the other platforms have failed.

If I want to see the celebs, brands or professionally shot content I have FaceGram/YouTube/Vimeo for that. This app is for the rest of us until the celebs/brands come in and inevitably ruin it. Hopefully by then, one of you HN folks will have built the next one.

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