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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

#451

Post by saagarjha »

xster wrote: post #346
ac29 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> helping the despot build 23 nuclear power plants Iran has one nuclear power plant, and it opened in 2011. It was built mostly by the Russians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushehr_Nuclear_Power_Plant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Iran This is the first sentence By 2012, Iran had roughly 400 power plant units https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran The Shah approved plans to construct up to 23 nuclear power stations by 2000.[24] In March 1974, the Shah envisioned a time when the world's oil supply would run out, and declared, "Petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable…

I don’t see how your evidence disagrees with your comment’s parent.

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

#452

Post by logicchains »

rsa25519 wrote: post #437
johnchristopher wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no fixed time cost, every video can be skipped (swiped) within the first milliseconds. I agree repeated jokes can be boring but it's really easy to skip. I also don't like videos that pick the influencer style "Hi everyone, so today I was in the kitchen and then you'll never believe what happened come on I have to show you, here's the top counter...". Next. As soon as I hear those kind of intro I skip. On Tik…

Note also that if you skip a video quickly, TikTok will show fewer of that type of video, which I think is a fantastic feature

If you press and hold over a video, it also has an option to tell it that you want to see fewer videos like that, which seems to work fairly well. Unlike Youtube, where even if I downvote a video, it will keep showing it.

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

#453

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

biggestdecision wrote: post #338
justicezyx wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Party Committees aren't appointed by the government, and they don't have anywhere near the power you're asserting they do.

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

#454

Post by mesa8 »

xnx wrote: post #376

It appears as though very few Hacker News commenters have spent any time using Tiktok. It is the only enjoyable, enriching social media service I've ever used. Most everything many of us liked about the old/weird internet is present on Tiktok right now: almost no ads or commercial presense, personal content from real people (not hyper produced productions from influencers and pros), weird content, niche content, orga…

Tiktok's recommendation algorithm was TOO personal for me. It started recommending specific teenage girls who went through the same specific traumatic situations I went through as a teenager (which is common but rare <.001%). It completely got into my head and knew more than I would ever admit to anyone (sexual preferences, types, etc..).

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

#455

Post by johnchristopher »

Seasonwreckage wrote: post #445
iKevinShah wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the factors might be region but also: > Consumers (audience) side: Tik Tok use AI to calculate what content will be the best fit for the consumer. When consumer use the app, consumers even do not need to put their preference. AI will automatically get a sizeable database of the consumers’ behaviors. Source: https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/tik-tok-us...

i need my freedom

And Tiktok took it away from you ?

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

#457

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

jjcon wrote: post #352
Leary wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU requires data to be based in the EU. So a US equivalent would be to require data to be based in the US, not banning whatever tickles its fancy. Consistent rule of law allows economic actors to make proper planning and decisions. If the US wants to ban Chinese apps, it should pass a law saying that.

> So a US equivalent would be to require data to be based in the US Right, isn’t that what a sale to Microsoft would essentially do? The metaphor here doesn’t cover the fact that China has banned tons of American companies — should the US not respond in turn? I don’t know what the right response is tbh but I don’t think they should feel compelled to just shrug it off.

American brands have a huge presence in China. Chinese brands do not have much presence in the US. It seems like whenever a Chinese company appears to be making inroads, it gets banned: ZTE, Huawei, TikTok.

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

#458

Post by kenhwang »

johnchristopher wrote: post #422
kenhwang wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, Tiktok is the only social media platform I absolutely can't stand. Low quality content, repeated jokes, people desperate for attention, impersonal, memes, and all of it video so there's an unavoidable fixed time cost. With so much good high content available on the internet and how little time people have, it saddens me that so much time is spent on the low quality noise.

There's no fixed time cost, every video can be skipped (swiped) within the first milliseconds. I agree repeated jokes can be boring but it's really easy to skip. I also don't like videos that pick the influencer style "Hi everyone, so today I was in the kitchen and then you'll never believe what happened come on I have to show you, here's the top counter...". Next. As soon as I hear those kind of intro I skip. On Tik…

> No, that's unfair, you are saying all of tiktok content is low quality noise, which is wrong

In the board world of "video content", yes it is. It might be better than FB/Instagram/Twitter videos, but those and Tiktok pale in comparison to, say, HBO. Tiktok is gifs with sound filmed on a cell phone with a refreshing take on recommendations optimized for stickiness. It's the McDonalds of video content; maybe better than the niche it competes in, but its still garbage in a very convenient package. As far as the videos are concerned, they're very low quality compared to what the medium is capable of.

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

#459

Post by pmachinery »

mantap wrote: post #436
pmachinery wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you believe simply being Chinese is "suspect"?

You can't really blame people for considering that. We know that China does participate in online misinformation (as does the UK and Russia to be fair). Additionally, people in China don't have a lot of freedom of speech to criticise the government. So unfortunately it does put a certain gloss on it when someone in mainland China writes something that the Chinese government would approve of. Because of the chilling e…

You aren't getting only one half of the picture, you're getting an additional half.

Denouncing people who provide that other half as "suspect" is itself an attempt to ensure only one half of the picture is heard/accepted.

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

#460

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

throwaway189262 wrote: post #393
russli1993 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about Huawei? If there is IP and IP infringement why not sue the company? I thought there is tons of cases of IP lawsuits each year? Huawei has operations in many markets like Europe with strong rule of law, sue Huawei in Europe. There are two law suits against Huawei from Cisco and T-Mobile. The first case both parties settled out of court. Second case is about a phone test arm, and already settled a…

I don't think this has anything to do with who the founders are. This is pure retaliation against China for not allowing US companies to operate there. It is hard for me to feel bad for one Chinese company banned from operating in the US when China has banned thousands of US companies. The founders of TikTok should blame Chinese government, it's 100% their fault that the US is retaliating. I am glad US is finally sta…

> China has banned thousands of US companies

Which companies are you talking about?

> This is pure retaliation against China for not allowing US companies to operate there.

American companies have a massive presence in China. There's nothing comparable to it in the US. Imagine walking into a mall in an American city, and half the stores being Chinese. The reverse is the case in China.

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