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TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

cnbc.com

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Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#111

Post by okamiueru »

mclightning wrote: post #98
koonsolo wrote: post #64

As a European I find this whole story very confusing. A president that can just force a specific company on very short notice to shut down operation, is very concerning. What is even more concerning is that a lot of people here tend to agree because of the China thing. If it is that important, why is there no law that enforces this?

I hate this "As a European" generalizations as if Europe has an entirely homogeneous spread of governance. Take this for a second; Bulgaria and Denmark is both Europe, or Hungary and Sweden.

You are absolutely right in that it gives the wrong impression of "everyone thinks the same". That said, I don't think that is the intention, ever, when it's used.

There are certain aspects in how things work in the US that are so far disconnected to how it is, in most of Europe, that is baffling. By an large, this difference applies to most of Europe.

It is of course an oversimplification. But, here are a few boggling things: Politics (in particular, money in politics that looks like plain bribery, or political and misleading ads everywhere), for profit private prisons, no maternity leave, unpaid internships, healthcare related personal bankruptcies.

The list goes on and on, and, since this is a by and large difference to Europe, you tend to see the "As a European" phrase.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#113

Post by justusw »

mclightning wrote: post #98
koonsolo wrote: post #64

As a European I find this whole story very confusing. A president that can just force a specific company on very short notice to shut down operation, is very concerning. What is even more concerning is that a lot of people here tend to agree because of the China thing. If it is that important, why is there no law that enforces this?

I hate this "As a European" generalizations as if Europe has an entirely homogeneous spread of governance. Take this for a second; Bulgaria and Denmark is both Europe, or Hungary and Sweden.

Agreed. It’s not any different from saying “as a westerner...”. Europe is a continent, not a political union.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#114

Post by askl56 »

okamiueru wrote: post #111
mclightning wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate this "As a European" generalizations as if Europe has an entirely homogeneous spread of governance. Take this for a second; Bulgaria and Denmark is both Europe, or Hungary and Sweden.

You are absolutely right in that it gives the wrong impression of "everyone thinks the same". That said, I don't think that is the intention, ever, when it's used. There are certain aspects in how things work in the US that are so far disconnected to how it is, in most of Europe, that is baffling. By an large, this difference applies to most of Europe. It is of course an oversimplification. But, here are a few boggli…

I strongly disagree. There is nobody in Eastern Europe (or Western Europe if they know enough about politics) who is boggled by money in politics or misleading ads.

There are countries in Europe that have had Gulags in the last 50 years, I doubt they are boggled by the idea of a for-profit prison system.

As a European who has lived in America and now in SEA, this "as a European" is used by people who generally don't understand the variety of different life experience of people in Europe.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#115

Post by justusw »

okamiueru wrote: post #111
mclightning wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate this "As a European" generalizations as if Europe has an entirely homogeneous spread of governance. Take this for a second; Bulgaria and Denmark is both Europe, or Hungary and Sweden.

You are absolutely right in that it gives the wrong impression of "everyone thinks the same". That said, I don't think that is the intention, ever, when it's used. There are certain aspects in how things work in the US that are so far disconnected to how it is, in most of Europe, that is baffling. By an large, this difference applies to most of Europe. It is of course an oversimplification. But, here are a few boggli…

Maybe more nuanced would be EU citizen, instead of European. At least the EU has some sort of political agenda and a somewhat coherent view on international relations. A continent on the other hand does not have an agenda. It is a landmass.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#116

Post by erklik »

rorykoehler wrote: post #99
koonsolo wrote: post #64

As a European I find this whole story very confusing. A president that can just force a specific company on very short notice to shut down operation, is very concerning. What is even more concerning is that a lot of people here tend to agree because of the China thing. If it is that important, why is there no law that enforces this?

I support it because of "the China thing". Not because I think China is inherently bad (I am capable of separating China from the CCP) but as long as the CCP enforces heir draconian laws that don't permit foreign companies free access to the Chinese market I think this should be reciprocated. Any other response is reckless.

I mean if that's the case, why not simply make laws to limit foreign companies access to the US market. As far as I know, the US hasn't actually passed any laws, right?

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#117

Post by jld89 »

0xfaded wrote: post #94
throwaway4good wrote: post #58

If I were TikTok I would move my international operations to a European country that was friendly to me and then wait until the anti-China sentiment in the US settled and then try again. Rather that than force-selling the US part at a bargain price. Europe would love a social media giant that could match those of the US. And just behaved better than the US ones when it came to taxes and data privacy ...

The sentiment in Europe right now is fear over Chinese money purchasing European companies piecemeal. European valuations are kept artificially low by, well, it seems just by being in Europe. With companies struggling from covid, the usual lack of European leadership on any sort of stimulus, and the US not in a position to bail the European economy out again a la 2008, there are a lot of buying opportunities. Current…

> and the US not in a position to bail the European economy out again a la 2008, there are a lot of buying opportunities.

This is new to me, do you have a source? To me the US was in big trouble at the time, no resources to bail out anyone really...

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#118

Post by ponker »

michannne wrote: post #78
ponker wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rapidly becoming an issue? The US has been ignoring China’s burgeoning power for 50 years and allowed US CEOs to get gazillion dollar payouts by shipping American manufacturing jobs to China. That doesn’t change the fact that 1) an isolated spasm against TikTok accomplishes nothing if not part of a broad and permanent portfolio of initiatives, 2) whether Trump wins or loses this election he doesn’t give a shit about…

Vitriol aside, I suggest you adopt a more objective view of politics, instead of allowing your personal emotions to guide your view of governmental affairs. For one, TikTok is not the target, it is just the first domino of many, intended to lay the groundwork of how the government will deal with similar cases in the future. Secondly, you should at least make an attempt to not project your personal bias onto others -…

Sure sure, 5D chess, and the verbal nonsense oozing out of him on camera and on Twitter has no relevance to his 250-step master plan. Yep yep yep I’m waiting with bated breath, what I think is most important is making sure he figures out just what pizza parlor it is.

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#119

Post by coliveira »

koonsolo wrote: post #64

As a European I find this whole story very confusing. A president that can just force a specific company on very short notice to shut down operation, is very concerning. What is even more concerning is that a lot of people here tend to agree because of the China thing. If it is that important, why is there no law that enforces this?

The US has a "democracy" where the president acts almost like a king. Of course there is a judiciary, but it is slow and doesn't meddle in most decisions affecting international affairs. This kind of behavior wouldn't be acceptable in the UK, for example, where there is a real monarchy. The actual law in the US is to take over other countries that are not labeled as "friends".

Re: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to leave the company

#120

Post by bilbo0s »

rapsey wrote: post #81
koonsolo wrote: post #64

As a European I find this whole story very confusing. A president that can just force a specific company on very short notice to shut down operation, is very concerning. What is even more concerning is that a lot of people here tend to agree because of the China thing. If it is that important, why is there no law that enforces this?

The US must be viewed as an empire not just any country. If the empire sees something as a threat, it will find legal justifications for doing anything and it will absolutely make distinctions between local corporations or ones with too many ties to rival geopolitical states.

This is the US, we've even threatened companies if they have too many ties to a rival political party. Let alone a rival political state. It's just the reality of the environment here in the US.
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