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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

#331

Post by notatoad »

torbital wrote: post #314
notatoad wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It would help address the spyware concern by moving it to a US company it might help for some people Personally, i'm a little bit concerned that microsoft just received a $10bn DOD contract, and now the US government is essentially forcing a sale of TikTok to Microsoft. I'm not convinced that the company running the hot new social network (as well as all our source code) owing a bunch of favours to the US govermnent…

A company occasionally working together with the US government is very different than China's state-run companies.

you're right. for me personally, i think it's much worse.

the odds that chinese goverment data collection ever affects me is minimal. as a canadian citizen who sometimes visits the US and routinely uses services provided by american companies, the odds that US government data collection affects me in some way is pretty high.

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

#332

Post by cheez »

ralph84 wrote: post #316
cheez wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having the resources of Microsoft and a vision you want to execute on might be why they allowed themselves to get bought.

All of the founders except one were already gone, and the remaining one left immediately after the acquisition closed. It wasn't about executing a vision, it was about cashing out.

I did say "might be" :-)

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

#333

Post by throw987542 »

jtmarmon wrote: post #60
mullingitover wrote: post #27

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?

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…

Does this mean China is correct in censoring information and social networks?

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

#334

Post by totetsu »

rabuse wrote: post #323
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Difference is yahoo had arguably one of the worst CEOs ever: Marissa Mayer where as Microsoft has a wizard: Satya Nadella.

Nobody kills a product like Yahoo. I've always said that everything they acquire dies, and then they sell it for near nothing.

deleting irreplaceable cultural history as they go

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

#335

Post by jjcon »

fqye wrote: post #258

If the US forced ByteDance to sell Tiktok, the US would lose its last bit of moral high ground in China, the spirit of free market and rule by law. If you are worried about data leakage to China, you set rules and law and enforce them. That is what China is doing. They asked Apple and other cloud service provider to store data in China. The US could setup clear rules and regulations about where to put data of US user…

> would lose its last bit of moral high ground in China

I mean it is no different than the EU requiring US companies to host data in EU data centers.

China has banned so many US companies - why is it unfair to retaliate?

The use of economic power shouldn’t only be acceptable when done by corporations. Governments with a backbone should use it too (like the EU has done when appropriate)

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

#336

Post by ponker »

grazhero99 wrote: post #321

I think this would probably one of the better outcomes for this situation, outside of somehow convincing every teenager in the world to stop using garbage spyware apps (good luck with that). Microsoft and the US government are at least more of a "devil you know" than China I'd say. Obviously far from ideal, but cutting off the CCP's direct access to the personal data and impressionable minds of millions of young peop…

Also of all the big tech companies Microsoft is probably the worst at psychological warfare to hack into people’s brains and change their behaviors. As annoying as Microsoft Office is, it’s not trying to manipulate your political beliefs or get you to buy some shoes you don’t need.

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

#337

Post by throw987542 »

cellis wrote: post #35

TikTok acquired an app called Musically, which was a US app. Edit: acquired

Musical.ly (stylized as musical.ly) was a social media service headquartered in Shanghai with a US office in Santa Monica, California.

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

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

#338

Post by biggestdecision »

justicezyx wrote: post #320
crystaln wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You obviously don't have much experience with China. China is an authoritarian state and all companies are subject to secret control by the state, essentially branches of the military. There is no legal recourse or protection from such intervention. The government can mandate spy code be inserted and any data they want. You're well intended here, but ignorant of how China operates. There is literally no way to enforc…

> China is an authoritarian state and all companies are subject to secret control by the state, essentially branches of the military. Jumping from authoritarian state, to "all companies are subject to secrete control by the state", that is already a quantum leap. If you believe what Soviet Union's state controlled economy collapsed, because it's impossible for state to control that much of details of the economy, the…

Companies in China have Party Committees, appointed by the government. These committees have oversight over how the company operates, and how the board is appointed. The Chinese government has a strong direct influence inside Chinese businesses, that isn't present in the rest of the world.
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