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Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

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Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#51

Post by TooKool4This »

muststopmyths wrote: post #6

I wonder if the "deal" was going to be just "we'll run your US infrastructure (and keep data) in the US, on Azure, and we split the money" rather than a buyout ? That would make more sense to me. So more like "Microsoft will invest X billion for a Y% of TikTok and run its US operations". You could satisfy the US government that Microsoft was guaranteeing the data would not be shipped to China.

I don't see how with that arrangement they could guarantee the app is also not collecting and uploading data in addition to the data saved on Microsoft's servers. It would come down to trying to prove a negative which is not really possible outside of trivial cases.

The only way to make that arrangement work would be to give Microsoft access to the source and ability/responsibility to review the source/releases. Not exactly a great Setup for either party.

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#52

Post by scarface74 »

splintercell wrote: post #48
javagram wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the president is taking this actions in retaliation for the expression of free speech on the platform (TikTok audience skews young, which is a very anti-trump demographic) that may violate the First Amendment if proven. Viewpoint discrimination is against the first amendment. We know Trump wasn’t offended by the idea that foreign countries might be trying to help him get elected, and has repeatedly called it a “Ru…

Tiktok is the only platform where Trump supporters aren't banned. Not to mention, (white) zoomers lean very much to the right.

Right because Twitter isn’t Trump’s favorite platform to bypass the media.

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#53

Post by threeseed »

Slartie wrote: post #43
marcinzm wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Executive orders aren't magic, there's some law they will reference as giving the president the power to issue such an order.

Except for there being this joker called "national security" which magically allows practically anything to be ordered by the executive, because you can obviously reframe anything into a matter of national security, even short video clips of dancing teenagers.

Let's be clear apps like TikTok are a threat to national security.

Widely deployed apps that capture location data can and have been used to determine the location of military bases and assets.

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#54

Post by threeseed »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #15

How is it ok for the US president to ban a media company? How is it ok for the US president to put pressure on the owners of a company to sell to another company? This must violate > 1 article of the constitution.

Mergers are blocked all of the time for competition and security reasons.

And the President has the right to ban companies on national security grounds as well.

The legal basis for both is very well founded with plenty of precedent.

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#55

Post by spanktheuser »

- TikTok would seem to be an existential threat to Facebook.

- Acquisition by Facebook is problematic given current scrutiny of their market position.

- Facebook has been Trump’s media ally since 2016.

- Trump is intervening clumsily to kill a rare Facebook competitor.

Circumstantial to be sure. But the pattern match is bonkers.

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#56

Post by alfiedotwtf »

threeseed wrote: post #53
Slartie wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for there being this joker called "national security" which magically allows practically anything to be ordered by the executive, because you can obviously reframe anything into a matter of national security, even short video clips of dancing teenagers.

Let's be clear apps like TikTok are a threat to national security. Widely deployed apps that capture location data can and have been used to determine the location of military bases and assets.

If an app is a national security threat, maybe people shouldn’t be carrying them around military bases :shrug:

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#57

Post by [deleted] »

kanox wrote: post #35
ardit33 wrote: post #20

If Tiktok was European/Japanese/Korean/Canadian this would not happen, as those countries are free democracies and work with a similar/common rule of law 1. China doesn’t play with the same rules, and it has been proven to be a malicious player 2. They don’t allow western companies to operate freely in their country, why should we let them to? 3. The US and to a lesser degree Europe, are in a de-facto new Cold War, a…

Rule of law is not conditional on reciprocity, societies strive to give due process even to literal murderers. The US should respect it's own laws and deal with chinese companies fairly. The actions of the chinese government should have no bearing on this.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#58

Post by bogomipz »

osrec wrote: post #21
KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #15

How is it ok for the US president to ban a media company? How is it ok for the US president to put pressure on the owners of a company to sell to another company? This must violate > 1 article of the constitution.

Tiktok users did boycott the Tulsa rally. I think that annoyed him, and this may well be petty retaliation.

While that is certainly true there has also been significant congressional interest in Tik Tok and possible security implications going back to October of last year.

Marco Rubio asked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, to review TikTok’s acquisition of rival app Musical.ly. The impetus seems to have been a Washington Post story that ran that September[1] that questioned the absence of Hong Kong protests on TikTok in contrast to other social media platforms.[2]

Also that same month Chuck Schumer and Tom Cotton sought to have the US intelligence community assess the national security risks of TikTok(and other Chinese-owned platforms) sighting concern about election meddling and influence.[3]

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/15/tiktoks...

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/9/20906971/tiktok-censorshi...

[3] https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1239

Re: Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

#60

Post by dvt »

kanox wrote: post #47
shiado wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single piece of law granting the US government authority on national security grounds has enjoyed bipartisan support for a very long time. I'm only surprised it hasn't been used like this earlier.

Treating foreign media as a "national security issue" is extremely scary. This is not something that free societies do.

> Treating foreign media as a "national security issue" is extremely scary.

Not really. RT and Al Jazeera has (rightfully) suffered much of the same scrutiny. There's a fundamental difference between something extremely partisan (think Breitbart or HuffPo) and something state-sponsored. Let's not bury our heads in the sand here.

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