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Microsoft Statement on TikTok

blogs.microsoft.com

31–40 of 116 posts

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#31
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far it’s only been communist Chinese companies that have had to go through this (to my knowledge) in recent times. Tit for tat and al that. Maybe if China let Facebook, Twitter, etc operate then we wouldn’t have this problem.

There is no such thing as tit for a tat in a civilisation with rule of law. Either USA had privacy laws that forbid Tik Tok from participating in USA marketplace or USA doesn’t have rule of law and operates under some form of dictatorship.

The law underlying this deal isn't a privacy law but a national security law that allows the President to force the sale of foreign-owned assets that pose a security risk. It's mainly intended to deal with war, near/imminent war, and quasiwar situations where the assets are active tools of opposing belligerent, and, even if this is technically within the letter of the law (about which there has been serious questions raised), it's seems clearly outside of the intended application and to be very likely premised on a bad-faith determination that is an abuse of power. But the Republicans in the Senate have already signalled a lack of willingness to hold the President to account for any abuse of power no matter how flagrant, so everything that isn't forcibly constrained by something other than the risk of impeachment is, de facto, licensed until the Senate and/or President are changed.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#32

> We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests Does anyone seriously believe TikTok is a threat to national security? > combatting disinformation There you have it. I've seen TikTok videos go viral being really critical of the US government including its foreign policy. The kind of video that would just be invisible or outright banned from Youtube…

Yes. They’re saying the reason the Houston Chinese embassy was closed down out of nowhere was they were using TikTok data to target/provoke protestors via TikTok in regards to George Floyd protests. People were intentionally targeted to further fan the flames of unrest in this country.

It’s also been speculated that TikTok is using the data they get from the US to train their facial recognition and AI tools better.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#33
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far it’s only been communist Chinese companies that have had to go through this (to my knowledge) in recent times. Tit for tat and al that. Maybe if China let Facebook, Twitter, etc operate then we wouldn’t have this problem.

There is no such thing as tit for a tat in a civilisation with rule of law. Either USA had privacy laws that forbid Tik Tok from participating in USA marketplace or USA doesn’t have rule of law and operates under some form of dictatorship.

Nah there definitely is. There is no rule of law regarding international deals besides what can be enforced with violence or the threat of violence. That’s why, for example, the EU has different trade rules for different countries, protection mechanisms for domestic products and industries, etc.

Why is the UK working on a deal? Shouldn’t the EU provide the same deal to all countries? Nah. It’s “tit-for-tat”.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#34

> We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests Does anyone seriously believe TikTok is a threat to national security? > combatting disinformation There you have it. I've seen TikTok videos go viral being really critical of the US government including its foreign policy. The kind of video that would just be invisible or outright banned from Youtube…

There are many videos critical of US foreign policy on YouTube. The collateral murder video is on YouTube.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#35
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far it’s only been communist Chinese companies that have had to go through this (to my knowledge) in recent times. Tit for tat and al that. Maybe if China let Facebook, Twitter, etc operate then we wouldn’t have this problem.

There is no such thing as tit for a tat in a civilisation with rule of law. Either USA had privacy laws that forbid Tik Tok from participating in USA marketplace or USA doesn’t have rule of law and operates under some form of dictatorship.

“There is no such thing as tit for a tat in a civilisation with rule of law.”

That’s not a general principle of which I’m aware. Plenty of countries have rules like “we treat you how you treat us”. Nothing about that is inherently incompatible with the rule of law.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#36
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far it’s only been communist Chinese companies that have had to go through this (to my knowledge) in recent times. Tit for tat and al that. Maybe if China let Facebook, Twitter, etc operate then we wouldn’t have this problem.

There is no such thing as tit for a tat in a civilisation with rule of law. Either USA had privacy laws that forbid Tik Tok from participating in USA marketplace or USA doesn’t have rule of law and operates under some form of dictatorship.

What are you even talking about? Do you live in the real world?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat

Tit for tat is the strategy used across the globe and throughout history because it works.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#37

> We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests Does anyone seriously believe TikTok is a threat to national security? > combatting disinformation There you have it. I've seen TikTok videos go viral being really critical of the US government including its foreign policy. The kind of video that would just be invisible or outright banned from Youtube…

Do you think Facebook or Twitter are threats to national security?

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#38

> We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests Does anyone seriously believe TikTok is a threat to national security? > combatting disinformation There you have it. I've seen TikTok videos go viral being really critical of the US government including its foreign policy. The kind of video that would just be invisible or outright banned from Youtube…

I think even passively collected behavioral data (rather than, say, an active psyop-style intervention on social media) poses a threat, as it can be leveraged elsewhere.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#39
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does look like it. https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-drops-out-of-bidding-...

That's so...odd. When I think Oracle, I think old suits selling boring old tech. Not 12 year olds twerking and/or pretending to be killed at Auschwitz(yes, a real trend).

yeah.. lots of head scratching when I saw that announcement.

Re: Microsoft Statement on TikTok

#40
post #5

They found a higher bidder? Or did export restrictions from China hinder sale?

ByteDance announced they weren't going to hand over the recommendation algo for TikTok which seems like a bit of a dealbreaker. ~~ https://twitter.com/verge/status/1305285085722292224~~ Right link: https://twitter.com/business/status/1305179144171421708

Your link has nothing to do with recommendation engines? Perhaps you pasted the wrong one?
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