President Trump plans to sign an order forcing China’s ByteDance to sell off the U.S. portion of TikTok

[poochyena]

Summary

Microsoft could acquire the popular short-form video platform’s U.S. service, with President Trump poised to order China’s ByteDance to sell the business

 

Quotes

Quote

President Trump plans to sign an order forcing China’s ByteDance to sell off the U.S. portion of TikTok, a short-form video app that has surged in popularity in the United States as privacy concerns and tensions escalate with China.

The divestiture order is coming as soon as today, according to current and former U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. One of the individuals confirmed Microsoft was in the lead to purchase the service.

 

My thoughts

This is out of nowhere for me. I was expecting a ban on the app. I'm not sure how well it would do under microsoft considering they just shut down mixer recently..

 

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/31/tiktok-trump-divestiture/

[DarthEoin]

and people think the US is better than china

 

[spartaman64]

is this even legal? i thought US was all about property rights etc

[startrek03]

Oh geez... that can't end well... 

[Nena Trinity]

dictator!

[dalekphalm]

Personally I don't use TikTok and likely never will - especially never uploading anything there. As we know, generally speaking, Chinese Corporations tend to have a pretty close relationship with the Chinese Government, and as such, they pretty much cave into any requests by the Government, legal or otherwise (not to mention that the Chinese Government can more or less pass any legislation they want to "make it legal").

 

Due to that, concerns that they're misusing the data (such as using it for AI face training, Deep Fake training, etc) have at least some basis.

 

But with that in mind, is it even legal for the President to just issue an order forcing a foreign company to sell part of their corporation to American interests? Even if that part of the company is the American division?

 

I can tell you I'm not versed in divestiture laws at all, so maybe this is legal, but it definitely seems suspect.

 

With that in mind? Yes, I'd trust Microsoft a hell of a lot more than a Chinese company - and I don't particularly trust Microsoft that much (though certainly more than some do).

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Personally I don't use TikTok and likely never will - especially never uploading anything there. As we know, generally speaking, Chinese Corporations tend to have a pretty close relationship with the Chinese Government, and as such, they pretty much cave into any requests by the Government, legal or otherwise (not to mention that the Chinese Government can more or less pass any legislation they want to "make it legal").

 

Due to that, concerns that they're misusing the data (such as using it for AI face training, Deep Fake training, etc) have at least some basis.

 

But with that in mind, is it even legal for the President to just issue an order forcing a foreign company to sell part of their corporation to American interests? Even if that part of the company is the American division?

 

I can tell you I'm not versed in divestiture laws at all, so maybe this is legal, but it definitely seems suspect.

 

With that in mind? Yes, I'd trust Microsoft a hell of a lot more than a Chinese company - and I don't particularly trust Microsoft that much (though certainly more than some do).

I think we trust American companies a little more than Chinese simply because we understand them more and have a western perspective. They probably do just as much spying as any other company, but it’s more transparent for us and we know what to expect.

[ARikozuM]

I really hope this has more background than just the stunt pulled over his rally. 

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

I think we trust American companies a little more than Chinese simply because we understand them more and have a western perspective. They probably do just as much spying as any other company, but it’s more transparent for us and we know what to expect.

The reason I, a non-American, trust American companies more is pretty simple:

 

There are laws that protect those companies from being forced into action by the US Government. Sure, there are other laws that sometimes force them into action as well, but those laws are much more clearly defined.

 

Whereas with Chinese companies, literally we have no idea which ones are cooperating with the Chinese Government, which ones are essentially extensions of their Intelligence arms, etc. Any of them could be, realistically. And due to the Dictatorship nature of the CCP, they can pretty much force Chinese companies do as the Government pleases.

 

In the US, this is not the case - for American companies outside of the US (Eg: those Operating in Canada or the EU), it's even less so.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

The reason I, a non-American, trust American companies more is pretty simple:

 

There are laws that protect those companies from being forced into action by the US Government. Sure, there are other laws that sometimes force them into action as well, but those laws are much more clearly defined.

 

Whereas with Chinese companies, literally we have no idea which ones are cooperating with the Chinese Government, which ones are essentially extensions of their Intelligence arms, etc. Any of them could be, realistically. And due to the Dictatorship nature of the CCP, they can pretty much force Chinese companies do as the Government pleases.

 

In the US, this is not the case - for American companies outside of the US (Eg: those Operating in Canada or the EU), it's even less so.

Well we all know that western society, like America doesn’t sometimes abide by their rules. But we know what to expect and what we can do when they break them. There’s always like a safety net. 
 

in China etc there isn’t a net or anything and you’ll be put somewhere.

[Sauron]

Embrace, extend, profitfromderangedprotectionistpolicies?

10 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

The reason I, a non-American, trust American companies more is pretty simple:

 

There are laws that protect those companies from being forced into action by the US Government. Sure, there are other laws that sometimes force them into action as well, but those laws are much more clearly defined.

Somehow I don't think that's enough of a reason to trust them...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook–Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal

16 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Whereas with Chinese companies, literally we have no idea which ones are cooperating with the Chinese Government, which ones are essentially extensions of their Intelligence arms, etc. Any of them could be, realistically.

Honestly I don't see much of a difference between a company being ordered to do some shady stuff by the local government and a company just doing it for profit.

[Vanderburg]

I'm just here to join in the outrage without any understanding of what it actually means.

[Drama Lama]

Alright Zooomers ( Kids ) 

give us your money or we’ll ban TikTok

[Drama Lama]

1 hour ago, spartaman64 said:

is this even legal? i thought US was all about property rights etc

Hipperty hopperty TikTok is now our property 

 

if it‘s about US sovereignty they‘ll probably make an excuse 

[colonel_mortis]

Half way though page one and the topic is already on genocide? This is news that involves technology, but there doesn't seem to be any tech to actually discuss, as the preceding discussion has underlined.

 

Most of you are well aware that politics is not allowed here.

 

Topic locked.