New Chinese Restrictions on Tech Exports Could Complicate TikTok Sale (axios.com) 49
New export controls on technologies that Beijing deems sensitive are threatening to derail efforts by American companies to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, the Wall Street Journal reports. From a report: The regulations were unveiled on Friday and prevent "technology based on data analysis for personalized information recommendation services" -- which would likely apply to TikTok's AI content-recommendation engine -- from being exported without a license, according to the New York Times. On Saturday, the Chinese state-owned Xinhua News Agency published commentary from a trade professor and government adviser suggesting that ByteDance "seriously and cautiously" consider whether to suspend TikTok negotiations after reviewing the new rules. The state-owned English-language newspaper Global Times published a similar story quoting Chinese experts as saying the restrictions could help ByteDance "prevent its core algorithms used in video-sharing app TikTok from falling into US companies' hands."
"could complicate sale" (Score:3, Funny)
like it was simple before
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China is demonstrating that when it comes to dictatorial command and control, they have trump beat hands down
Trump must really wish he was a "real" dictator
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I bet you are a big "Death Wish" fan too
My guess... (Score:2)
Re: My guess... (Score:2)
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And it's exactly what the US has been doing for more than half a century, starting with COCOM in 1949. Unfortunately Trump's idiotic trade war with China has now incentivised them to do the same thing back at the US.
Coming from a non-US country I'm not overly bothered, but it's going to hit US manufacturers and companies...
Re: My guess... (Score:2)
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Ah, yes, capitalism, where men with guns interfere with free trade.
Were you dropped?
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It does not mean corporations run government
I see (Score:2)
So 2 can play that game, it would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
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So, if China forbids the sale of TikTok but the US demands that it is sold to a American buyer... does it just disapper in a puff of smoke?
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So, if China forbids the sale of TikTok but the US demands that it is sold to a American buyer... does it just disapper in a puff of smoke?
If the legality of the ban and forced sale is upheld, then it could conceivably go dark in the US at least.
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The Chinese foreign ministry has indicated that if that happens then Apple will be kicked out of China. They appear to have drawn the line.
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Then Apple should buy TikTok. To save their Chinese market. None of 'the rest of us' should care. TikTok could become an Apple exclusive that none of 'the rest of us' have to endure.
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How would that help? The issue is that China doesn't like Trump trying to force the sale of Chinese technology to an American company.
Imagine if China insisted that Microsoft must be sold to a Chinese company or get blocked.
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They've done that sort of thing repeatedly, there are lots of companies that tried to open factories in China, but were kicked out after a local factory opened that made the same products.
But you don't make these comments on those stories, on those ones you blather about how of course they're free to do whatever, blah blah blah.
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Isn't that the normal way it works in the West too? How many Dr. Pepper knock-offs are there? https://boingboing.net/2017/04... [boingboing.net]
I often comment on those stories by pointing out the obvious: Competition exists and the language barrier makes it hard for Western companies. Microsoft have done reasonably well in China, Bing is moderately successful and Azure cloud is huge. Windows of course is the OS of choice and many OEMs ship it, and Chinese support is excellent.
What may be a threat to them now is fallout fro
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The Chinese foreign ministry has indicated that if that happens then Apple will be kicked out of China. They appear to have drawn the line.
I tried to find out more but all I found were John Gruber’s ramblings and the foreign ministry declining to give any specifics over what action they may take. Meanwhile Apple seems to be starting to move manufacturing out of China.
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For example there is this video of Lijian Zhao speaking: https://twitter.com/zlj517/sta... [twitter.com]
It's not just the manufacturing, in fact that would probably be left alone. It would be Apple services like the App Store and iCloud that get blocked, making their phones largely useless. They might also stop issuing certifications for new Apple phones so they can't be sold in China.
China is where much of Apple's growth has been in the last few years and will become the world's biggest market by GDP in the next few yea
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For example there is this video of Lijian Zhao speaking: https://twitter.com/zlj517/sta... [twitter.com]
It's not just the manufacturing, in fact that would probably be left alone. It would be Apple services like the App Store and iCloud that get blocked, making their phones largely useless. They might also stop issuing certifications for new Apple phones so they can't be sold in China.
China is where much of Apple's growth has been in the last few years and will become the world's biggest market by GDP in the next few years. It would be a disaster for Apple if they were excluded from it.
Yes, it would; and China would probably weigh the benefits of showing they will protect their companies versus the cost of being viewed as an unreliable market; although the size aand potential their will still ensure companies take the risk.
I don't agree with Trump's stand, although I can see why he may have taken it. It's a no lose for him; if the courts overturn his ban he can blame them and if they don't he wins; either way it plays into his "tough on China, tough guy" persona he likes to project. If
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I don't agree with Trump's stand, although ... If he thinks China would actually hurt Apple significantly he'll back down and declare victory.
Wait, you're dumb enough to think a person who doesn't understand the details, who doesn't read written briefings, is going to make a strategic decision based on an analysis of details?! You're stupid to even think that there is somebody on his staff that would be willing to attempt to explain the details to him that narrowly.
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I don't agree with Trump's stand, although ... If he thinks China would actually hurt Apple significantly he'll back down and declare victory.
Wait, you're dumb enough to think a person who doesn't understand the details, who doesn't read written briefings, is going to make a strategic decision based on an analysis of details?! You're stupid to even think that there is somebody on his staff that would be willing to attempt to explain the details to him that narrowly.
Not sure where you got the idea that I think he is"going to make a strategic decision based on an analysis of details?!". I think he, like any bully, will back down once China punches him in the nose; no thought is required on his part. China, OTOH, has proven to think strategically, most of the time.
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lol!
OK, you're that dumb.
When you stab yourself in the face, the person you're angry at does not feel a punch. Is that supposed to be some kind of Chinese voodoo?
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China is where much of Apple's growth has been in the last few years and will become the world's biggest market by GDP in the next few years. It would be a disaster for Apple if they were excluded from it.
Yeah, they might have to settle for being the second most valuable corporation in history
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If they did that, would Apple open new factories there?
Would Apple select suppliers that use Chinese parts?
The Chinese Foreign Ministry doesn't comprehend who benefits from their foreign relations. Somebody should explain trade deficits to them. Tit for tat leaves them with nothing.
For Americans, there would be a disruption in non-essential, easily replaced consumer items, combined with a reduction of capital flight. That's not an effective punishment compared to loss of export revenue. I hope they do it, I
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Apple can't really avoid using at least some Chinese parts, all the suppliers are in China. But yeah, they would probably try to move away and in doing so hurt their manufacturing capability (at least temporarily) while Chinese brands are already in the ascendant. Xiaomi and Huawei and their various brands are big sellers, at least here in Europe. It won't be the end of them but it won't be pretty either.
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No, it just shrivels in place, and makes various squealing sounds as the air pressure from all the bad investments leaks out.
This is how China always negotiates; they stab themselves in the face preemptively, and declare that the success of their attack implies victory.
The way things were, they were being forced to cash out. With this change, they refuse to cash out, they ban their ability to cash out, but it gains them no ability to avoid the need to cash out. All it does is prevent themselves from getting
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Just buy the name - if that actually matters. (Score:1)
Re:Just buy the name - if that actually matters. (Score:4, Funny)
They stole the following trade-secret code:
if (RanOutOfRecommendations()) {
displayCatVideo();
}
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Sounds too complicated, just ban it (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not usually one for conspiracies, but... (Score:2)
...seems like China doesn't want other nations to get too close a look at the code base.
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We all know ANY Chinese app hoovers up your data at a rate that would make Google blush. Strip away that mining of user data and TikTok becomes an shitty vine clone... with cute Asian girls.
I got a bad feeling about this (Score:2)
Wasn't a trade dispute [youtube.com] how a certain large (fictitious) war started?
running down the clock (Score:2)
They might be disappointed. First, it's definitely possible that Trump will get 4 more years. On the other hand, Biden might not turn out to be a limp-wristed Chinese synchopant. I think that China is going to encounter escalating pushback no matter which individual is in charge. Unlike Carrie Lam, our leaders tend to have free will, and a big chunk of our society is up for putting some space be
Schumer isn't going away (Score:1)
Trump could win, Biden probably will win, but Chuck Schumer isn't going away. He'll still be the head Democrat in the Senate, and probably the leader of the Senate.
Biden is unlikely to call off Schumer's enforcement against Bytedance. Why would he? The *only* reason Biden would have to try to stop it would be because Trump had gone along with it. Biden would be pissing off one of the most powerful people in his party, only so he could side with a corporation from China? Just because Trump didn't. Mayb
Playing 1-D chess (Score:2)
US: I am going to take your pawn.
China: I am forking your bishop and queen.
US: ? You can do that?
Just proves that TikTok is indeed a prisoner of China, and the US can at best only ban it.
Impossible, right? (Score:2)
We've been subjected to weeks of claims by the people running it that TikTok is an American company, based in the USA with only very weak ties to China that were basically some sort of incidental, nothing-to-see and nothing-to-worry-about server usage and "investors"...
Now, suddenly, the Chinese government is announcing that this thing is using some secret Chinese AI tech that cannot be exported without a special license because of its national security implications????
Wow. Just how stupid do the TikTok peo
fck china (Score:1)