ByteDance rebuffs Microsoft's TikTok purchase proposal Microsoft has revealed ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has declined to sell its social media app's US operations to the software giant. “ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft,” the Windows goliath said in a brief Sunday memo. “We are confident our proposal would have been good …
This post has been deleted by its author
This post has been deleted by its author
There would also have been bonus points for 'Micro$ucks' and 'Windoze'; oh and alluding that anyone who uses Windows is a certifiable moron who can't see the light.
Kids today....
Anyway, you'll have to excuse me, I've accidentally started Emacs and need to go Google how to quit it.
Just so future readers know what this thread was about. Here's the original deleted rabid post by the now sheepish Anonymous Coward in all it's ranting dis-jointed glory;
Microsoft ensuring security?
"...ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation.." made me spit spray my soda out my nose.
MS regularly fails in the security front & has to update its entire OS in order to fix the latest batch of patches slapped like so many bandaids over openly bleeding wounds.
MS wouldn't know quality if you beat them with the OED opened to the right page & the definition highlighted in neon yellow.
MS has heard of privacy and rapes ours every time a Win10 machine gets turned on.
MS is damn near the very definition of disinformation: they've spread FUD so long that it's the glue that binds their heads so firmly up their arses.
MS can't be trusted not to shoot itself in the foot with an unloaded & unstrung longbow.
While your comment is a bit funny, Trump would be in serious trouble if his companies did.
It would mean jail time.
But the situation w Oracle may make some happy. it doesn't solve the problem.
The fact that TikTok wouldn't sell to Microsoft is in itself interesting. Usually a company who creates a social media hit sells out and takes the money and runs.
> The fact that TikTok wouldn't sell to Microsoft is in itself interesting. Usually a company who creates a social media hit sells out and takes the money and runs.
There's a massive loss of face involved in selling out during a forced sell though, and face matters in Asia.
The deal offered by MS would have to be good enough for them to be willing to ignore the fact that it's essentially being forced by a bully. In that situation, I can't imagine MS's offer being overly generous - you haven't got a choice, we'll buy you for this $.
As big as the US market is, there's a much bigger world out there, so it may be better to walk away from a bad deal, stick 2 fingers up at Trump and then redirect any US Tiktok users to a video encouraging them to get out and vote.
I suggest you take a look at the history of companies where someone offers them a boatload of cash to sell out.
Those who do tend to go on to bigger and better things while those who don't more often than not get burned. Its a tough call, but selling out for billions is the smarter move.
You talk about the larger market outside of the US. Sure. but where's the capital? Google, FB, Apple, etc ... US companies. Granted there are other large companies out there and TikTok already has captured the China market.
But the issue that Trump sees as why he want's it shut down are also seen by other 5eye countries.
So they too will put pressure. And the EU isn't dumb by any means and has put pressure on US companies that abuse their market position or try to game the system.
The bottom line... its a smart move to sell out.
I think you've rather missed the point and applied an entirely western perspective to it.
Financially it's a smart move to sell out.
But, it's a terrible idea to do so under coercion if you're concerned about the associated loss of face.
Funnily enough, some value things above money.
> You talk about the larger market outside of the US. Sure. but where's the capital? Google, FB, Apple, etc ... US companies.
Care to point to the US capital that Tiktok has relied on, given that it's them we're talking about?
More generally, yes, most of the capital is in the US, but don't take it for granted - if the country makes itself into a (relative) internet backwater through protectionism the ROI just won't be there, particular if retaliatory action starts in other large markets.
> But the issue that Trump sees as why he want's it shut down are also seen by other 5eye countries.
There have, as yet, been no revelations other than "oh no, bad China" - there's no evidence of them collecting any more data than the US social media companies. As for "the govt can coerce them to provide data" I'd point you to the Patriot Act and the CLOUD act as starting points.
I'd also point out that it was America - the NSA - caught intercepting hardware shipments and tampering with them.
None of this is to say that China == good, just that the US is currently buried in it's own hypocrisy, and there's a good chance (especially with current leadership) that it'll come back to bite them.
Also, there's no real evidence that Trumps concern with Tiktok actually extends any further than the fact their users made him look a prick by taking up all the tickets for his rally.
I was wondering what the experience will be - an update to the app where users in the US won't be allowed to access their content? Will they be allowed to download their videos? Is the service going to be paused or data deleted? If so, when? Had a quick Google and could only find hysteria.
Just curious.
Isn't all of this caused by the TikTok K-Pop mafia pulling that epic stunt on the Donald's rally the other week?
I'm really looking forward to when the world finally gets over the "petulant child leadership" phase - whenever that is, maybe the grown ups will be back in charge of the world.... by 2050 or something.
Oh wow. A commentard makes a troll post on Trump.
Dude! Seriously? Not even worthy of a chuckle.
We're long past the 'jump the shark' moment.
Suppose the 5 eyes Intelligence boffins are right regarding TikTok and other hosted apps that use Chinese clouds to store data? Think about that for a second. China who has broken agreements w the UK over Hong Kong and has cracked down on free speech? Or Tibet and other racial minorities are being 're-educated'? But that's the country you trust...
Sorry I digress... but the point I was trying to make is that even if you host in the US, you still don't stop any potential spying because its not the app, but the decoupled access to the data. So the app captures the data, and then a second app has access to the data and uses it for unintended purposes.
You need to sometimes put on a black hat and think about the situation.
And if you really want to get paranoid and spin in circles... try thinking why the US government would want to allow it over a complete sale.... ;-)
Posted Anon because its getting spooky out there.
So choosing your nom de plume as 'Death_Ninja' isn't childish?
I'm a centrist, but in today's world, I look like a Conservative Right winger because of the shift to the left by many.
TikTok and other apps where data collected in the US sits on Chinese servers is something of a concern. You may not get it, but while you poke fun of Trump, try doing that in China and poke fun of their government leaders. Or sit in Hong Kong....
Trump is Trump. Boris is Boris. Sometimes you don't get what you want, but you get what you need.
You do realize that Trump is going to get a Nobel Peace Prize for the work done in the Middle East.
The Obama Administration? Libya and Syria ...
Trump is going to get a Nobel peace prize right after "Mike the FlyingRat" gets nominated for one.
I'll give Trump credit, he's done something good in the Middle East. Assassinating Gen Soleimani was a bold move, and more importantly a smart one. But it doesn't really offset the mayhem he's caused by the rest of his hamfisted policy toward Iran, to say nothing of his see-sawing on Syria, his interference in the internal politics of Israel, his support of murderous and corrupt despots in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, his idiotic and needless intervention in Lebanon, and probably more things that have slipped my mind for the moment.
Fair warning this is a bit if a rant against an ignorant comment.
<rant>
I think you need to get your news from more sources than CNN or CNBC.
So called petulant child leader... just got nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Seems there's this agreement between Israel and UAE that was brokered by the Trump Administration. And now another w Bahrain... It didn't get a lot of press from the US main stream media.
And that historic first commercial flight from Israel to UAE... just fake news, right?
Oh and for those who live outside the US...
If you bother to look at the poster children for BLM, they all died while resisting arrest with the exception of Trayvon because he was shot while attacking a civilian who had a CCW permit.
Systemic racism is a myth. The actual numbers and statistics do not pan out. But you'll never hear of it in the MSM.
The problem with the MSM is that they don't pay attention to what Trump is saying. A willful misinterpretation because their hatred of Trump is so bad that they toss aside their ethics.
If you're an American... what's scarier than Trump... Biden/Harris. If you don't want Trump, then try nominating a better set of candidates.
</rant>
Jeez... I hope you got your free (made in China) hat when you wrote that.
And, sure my nom de guerre wouldn't look great on a ballot paper, but guess what... El Reg ain't a ballot paper.
I'll say again, i have no interest in which of your two party state govern. I just think that for a country with a load of intelligent people past and present, that you surely to Christ could find some better candidates.
And that is something we can agree upon.
Who's a better candidate? Trump or Hillary? Trump.
Who's a better candidate? Trump of Harris (Biden is already lost his mind) ?
Trump again.
The point of the matter, Trump is the less of two evils.
And don't tell me that you don't have similar dilemmas in other countries including the UK.
Honestly when was the last time you had a candidate that you actually looked forward to voting for?
Reagan. (And in his second term, you can thank Nancy for keeping him on point.)
But the wild thing... unlike Obama who campaigned for a Peace prize... Trump is actually doing something to earn it. Israel UAE and now Bahrain
Better candidate.... I believe under your system it is possible to write the name of any US (born) ciitizen on the ballot paper and cast a vote for them.
That's real genuine democracy, why don't you use it? I don't think any other nation has anything like that level of genuine citizen power.
Is there any evidence that it can make any money? When it's a mass spying/intelligence-gathering tool for the Chinese government then I guess it's okay if it makes a loss. However, if it can't be monetised by Larry and his band of merry men*, then it's time is rather short, I'd say.
Being Oracle, I'm imagining a horrific re-branding to professional users, to encourage professionals to make twats of themselves in 30 second video segments.
Horrific. I guess someone in Oracle thinks money can be made from it. Selling ads? That's about it, isn't it? All the worlds largest applications (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok) are just glorified ad-selling platforms.
I'm out.
I'll plead poverty of the imagination, but how much data does the flog-vertising industry need? Sure, if I have a pet dog someone might want to sell me dog food, and if it is a bulldog there might be specific dogfoods for breeds with god-awful teeth and other inbreeding issues (lovable lugs though they are, they are a bit of a mess healthwise). But does it matter if the dog is a brindle or a fawn? Sorry, I think it's now about collecting data for its own sake than about getting anything useful.
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