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TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

reuters.com

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Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#511

Post by albacur »

philsnow wrote: post #270
kerng wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you underestimate the popularity and potential of TikTok and ByteDance at large. It's like Facebook, maybe around 2010-2012, with enormous upward potential - they might even dethrone Facebook and their offerings in the coming years. For the core Facebook app, I wouldnt be surprised if they did that already in a couple of countries.

The promise of "upward potential" of every one of these social media fads is that it could be the "last" one, the Big One that websites and captures every following generation. Do you think that TikTok is The Big One, that will still be growing at the same rate in ten years' time? I don't. Myspace and Facebook are shrinking. Some of the users leaving are going to TikTok, sure, but I don't think that means that it's b…

The pet rock was a fad.

Online companies, like brick and mortar companies, rise and fall. And even if Facebook's best days are behind it, I'm not sure we can call a business that grew for nearly 15 years and is now used by billions of people a "fad." Regardless, it generated unfathomable wealth for its founders, and made thousands of employees financially set for life.

If TikTok could capture that, it doesn't matter if it lasts five years or ten years, the people at the top will become very, very rich.

So I think both commenters above are correct: it has huge potential upside that investors are willing to gamble on, and it probably won't become the next Facebook so it might be worth it for the current owners to cash out now.

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#512

Post by phatfish »

hourislate wrote: post #395
pm90 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don’t bring this kind of holier than thou preaching to this forum. Just because you’re not the target audience doesn’t mean you can call the users as being “mentally ill”. ALL humans crave dopamine hits (what brought you to this forum?). Dance and music is how a certain demographic of humanity lives to express themselves, and there is an app that lets them do so. What the hell is your problem? Who are you to t…

>what brought you to this forum? I am only here for information/educational reasons, not entertainment. This is more about educating my mind. >Dance and music is how a certain demographic of humanity lives to express themselves, and there is an app that lets them do so. What the hell is your problem? Who are you to take it away from them? Maybe you haven't seen all the videos of young ladies threatening to kill thems…

Maybe Hacker News is next on Trumps ban list. Would you be happy about that?

Also, I would think carefully how productive your time spend here really is. Is surfing and commenting on HN providing any substantial "education"?

Personally i find it an entertaining way to waste some time, that does now and then enlighten me on a topic I didn't know about before, and have cause to want to learn more. But any real knowledge gained is through effort outside of HN.

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#513

Post by getmeoutofhere »

partiallypro wrote: post #505
wadkar wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be great if you can share source/links to these claims you’re making.

[flagged]

1. Where is the hard evidence? I saw a lot of B-roll footage with he-said-she-said, but no hard evidence of the organ harvesting or hair harvesting you claimed in your original post. We cannot rely on testimonials because as history shows [4], testimonials are easily fabricated.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant)

2. Actually cites the exact same Vice documentary you linked in (1).

3. Cites Rushan Abbas, who worked in Guantanamo and for Radio Free Asia (a literal US propaganda outlet) [5]

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushan_Abbas

4. Quotes Adrian Zenz, which as I said in my original reply, cannot be considered a quality source. He doesn't speak, read, or write Chinese, and AFAIK hasn't spent anytime in China. His methodology for calculating the population of imprisoned Quighurs consists of interviewing a dozen people for estimations, and then extrapolating these figures across the entire population of Xinjiang. He produces figures, that on the face of it make no sense (1.8 million people imprisoned, three times the size of San Francisco). Is also NPR, which is US funded and cannot be considered an impartial source, given the geopolitical rivalry between China and the US.

As I said earlier, these claims all originate from the same sources (Adrian Zenz, World Uighur Congress), but if you dig into their methodologies or funding sources, you quickly see how murky the details get.

5. Cites Falun Gong, which is a literal cult, akin to Scientology. Experts at the WHO have called into question these claims [6], and the US embassy staff conducted an investigation in 2006 and found no such occurances [7]

[6] https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/08/20/transplant...

[7] https://web.archive.org/web/20090620050738/http:/www.america...

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#514

Post by wolco »

spideymans wrote: post #436
wolco wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikTok is not a threat to youtube. Instagram maybe. Everyone has a place. Short videos on youtube are not rewarding and accounts are centered usually around one topic. On tiktok you follow a person who posts videos.. which are like moving instagram pictures . Instagram has been pushing videos but people are sharing more live stream longer content. The next big site will be pornhub meets tiktok. 90 seconds or less x-r…

TikTok has essentially three categories of users 1. Users that watch, but don’t post anything 2. Regular people that just post random things for fun. These people are essentially using it as instagram for video 3. People making relatively high quality content involving specific subject matter (vlogs, food, technology, sports, etc...). Essentially recreating YouTube channels on TikTok. The service has historically bee…

Usually they are forced to youtube for the advertising dollars. On twitter or instagram influencers can make a sizable amounts with sponsored posts. Does tiktok have an ad program for content creators? Are tiktok users becoming paid influencers? Do people post sponsored tiktok videos?

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#515

Post by dragonwriter »

getmeoutofhere wrote: post #509
partiallypro wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how to tell you this, but a lot of Muslim groups don't like other types of Muslims, and China pumps so much money into those states that they likely wouldn't bat any eye anyhow, especially with Qatar and Saudi Arabia having their own slavery problems.

Explain to me why Sunni Muslim (same as Uighur) countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, and the UAE signed the letter in support of China, all of whom obtain more funding, arms, and security from the US than China?

Because (oversimplifying, but still) on one side Pakistan, and on the other Israel.

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#516

Post by stale2002 »

balola wrote: post #469
khuey wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should US policy makers care what Chinese public opinion is?

Don't have to, but unless the policy is seperate the people and the party and win over the people. https://www.state.gov/communist-china-and-the-free-worlds-fu... >He was a brilliant student of China, a fierce cold warrior, and a tremendous admirer of the Chinese people, just as I think we all are. >We must also engage and empower the Chinese people – a dynamic, freedom-loving people who are completely distinct from…

> Don't have to, but unless the policy is seperate the people and the party and win over the people.

I am not sure why that would be the US's problem.

I have no doubt the that CCP will be able to control the media narrative within their own country. I just don't care. That was always going to be the case.

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#517

Post by getmeoutofhere »

partiallypro wrote: post #506
getmeoutofhere wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bite. Cite your sources and I'll address them. > After reading your bio, I'm not surprised that it's full of comments defending the CCP. Maybe it's because some of us grew up watching the horrors of the Iraq war, and the immense duplicity, chaos, and waste of human potential? Those who opposed the Iraq war were overwhelmingly silenced back then and I refuse to let the same happen now.

Which is why your entire comment history is near exclusive to supporting the CCP? Seems strange how that is somehow related to Iraq and not just broad US policy in general.

This is an alt account for personal safety and privacy reasons. People have tried to dig through my account (as you have done) and interfere with my personal life. In the past, I have received messages that have been a cause for concern while using my personal account.

For future reference, insinuating someone is a shill or a foreign agent is explicitly against HN guidelines, as it degrades the quality of the discussion.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#518

Post by stale2002 »

est wrote: post #110
ericmay wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t think it’ll change with Biden. The rhetoric level may change, but the overall sentiment is quite bipartisan and public opinion of China right now in America is awful. Also, the US can just ban it tomorrow and it’ll disappear.

then tiktok may simply provide a web version. Will US build some kind of firewall?

> then tiktok may simply provide a web version. Will US build some kind of firewall?

There is no need to do that. TikTok has significant US offices and operations. All the government would have to do is fine them/arrest them if they refuse to follow the law.

Thats how the law works. If you don't follow it, you get fined or arrested.

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#519

Post by getmeoutofhere »

dragonwriter wrote: post #515
getmeoutofhere wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain to me why Sunni Muslim (same as Uighur) countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, and the UAE signed the letter in support of China, all of whom obtain more funding, arms, and security from the US than China?

Because (oversimplifying, but still) on one side Pakistan, and on the other Israel.

Can you elaborate? You essentially just hand waved over my points and said "because Pakistan, Israel."

Re: TikTok’s Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal – sources

#520

Post by manfredo »

wadkar wrote: post #489
manfredo wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics moves slowly. 10 years is barely more than 1 presidency. China bans Facebook despite the company offering to comply with censorship/propaganda rules (and Zuckerberg even offering Xi to name his child). The ban is unambiguously due to strategic concerns over a foreign company having access to user data. The change in US policy towards Chinese apps is not retaliation, it's just the US coming to the same conclu…

> The ban is unambiguously due to strategic concerns over a foreign company having access to user data So Europe/India/everyone else should ban US apps? It becomes a slippery slope. > the US coming to the same conclusion as China that letting rivals foreign powers control media companies is unwise. If you’re worried about a foreign company manipulating media then put in laws and regulations. That way American compani…

> So Europe/India/everyone else should ban US apps? It becomes a slippery slope.

Are Europe and India concerned by a US company controls popular social media companies? Evidently not enough to ban them, and if in the future if they are then that's their prerogative.

> If you’re worried about a foreign company manipulating media then put in laws and regulations.

They did: The US put laws in place that allows the executive to block commerce when it is deemed a strategic threat. And now those laws are being exercised against a media company controlled by a geopolitical rival.

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