China Would Rather See TikTok US Close Than a Forced Sale (reuters.com) 55
Beijing opposes a forced sale of TikTok's U.S. operations by its Chinese owner ByteDance, and would prefer to see the short video app shut down in the United States, Reuters reported Friday, citing three people with direct knowledge of the matter. From a report: ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok's U.S. business to potential buyers including Microsoft and Oracle since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened last month to ban the service if it was not sold. Trump has given ByteDance a deadline of mid September to finalise a deal. However, Chinese officials believe a forced sale would make both ByteDance and China appear weak in the face of pressure from Washington, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. ByteDance said in a statement to Reuters that the Chinese government had never suggested to it that it should shut down TikTok in the United States or in any other markets. Two of the sources said China was willing to use revisions it made to a technology exports list on Aug. 28 to delay any deal reached by ByteDance, if it had to.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I agree, it's not a relevant service anyway, it's a total waste of time, worse than 4chan.
Re: China Would Rather See TikTok US Close Than a (Score:2)
I didn't think I'd ever say this, but: please don't insult 4chan.
(Also, dear kids, that site is where your memes originated from. It may be the crazy uncle, but show some respect anyway. :)
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I didn't think I'd ever say this, but: please don't insult 4chan.
(Also, dear kids, that site is where your memes originated from. It may be the crazy uncle, but show some respect anyway. :)
Unless those memes come from Reddit, or Something Awful.
Getting under the why of the death fo TikTok (Score:2)
Here I am following the first branch to see if the FP was productive. Yes, the FP was a joke and I might have given it the funny mod if I ever had a mod point, but the Subject was meaningless and the branch remained meaningless.
What I was looking for was more than a repeat of the title of the story. Upon reflection, I think we may have just seen a new experiment in trolling.
On the actual question (reflected in my new Subject), I think there are two basic possibilities: The principle of the thing or the mone
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I agree, it's not a relevant service anyway, it's a total waste of time, worse than 4chan.
It can be, of course, but there's actually a lot of good and informative content on there. Certainly not a total waste of time.
(Red Foreman, addressing all those Tik Tok creators)
"Shoulda put your 'informative content' on Youtube where it belongs."
[slaps back of creators head]
"Dumbass."
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Leroy Gibbs style slap is what I see.
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Wouldn't the same work for, like, Facebook?
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For once, China and I agree on something.
Can TikTok take Facebook and Twitter with it when it closes?
easy (Score:3, Interesting)
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I think that this is a no-win situation for China and ByteDance, so they have decided that is they are going to lose, then at the very least, they will not let an American company gain from their loss. Let Trump keep America... ByteDance will still get to slowly eat up the rest of the world with their algorithm - issues in India, notwithstandi
Re:easy (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually there's a very good outcome for China: when Tiktok closes in the US, who do you think the millions of Tiktok fans will blame? China? Of course not, it'll be Orange Man who'll be blamed for shutting down their favorite source of brain-dead entertainment. And those people are also voters...
In short, China is using TikTok as a tool to influence the US election. It's a very good move on their part. And for once, I completely support it: anything to get Trump out of office.
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I think that this is a no-win situation for China and ByteDance, so they have decided that is they are going to lose, then at the very least, they will not let an American company gain from their loss. Let Trump keep America... ByteDance will still get to slowly eat up the rest of the world with their algorithm - issues in India, notwithstanding. If they give up their secret sauce to a giant American corporation, then the last two years will have all been for nought.
China wants American companies to reveal all the algorithms they use, but won't let Chinese companies do the same. I say shut down the whole thing.
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It'll just start up after he's gone.
Re: easy (Score:1)
When.
Besides, like with certain areas of land in the world, different countries can have different realities regsrding their definitions. (As definitions are made up in any case.)
They could *both* declare that shitty completely useless and pointless company to be "theirs". At the same time.
And rip the employee structure apart in the process.
Oh well... and notbing of value will be lost.
But hey, at least two Gunner's mate First Class Philip Assholes will be bashing their heads in, wasting resources they will
Re:easy (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, there is the issue of censorship. I thought the US cared about free speech... so WTH are they doing threatening to shutdown websites such as TikTok if they do not put control of the site into US hands?
How would people n the US feel about it if China decides to ban Wynn, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, Micron, or Texas Instruments from doing any commerce, business operations, or manufacture in China unless they agree to be purchased by a Chinese company?
Some of these US companies derive more than half their revenue from China, and it would likely be pretty much fatal to any one of those companies if targeted similarly to TikTok, or China could just go ahead and take them all out in retaliation over TikTok. US officials are unreasonable here, pursuing ends that are likely Unconstitutional (Censoring websites / Platforms for disseminating communications China), and playing with fire.
Re:easy (Score:4, Informative)
How would people n the US feel about it if China decides to ban Wynn, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, Micron, or Texas Instruments from doing any commerce, business operations, or manufacture in China unless they agree to be purchased by a Chinese company?
They already ban Facebook, Twitter, Google, Wikipedia and countless others. These are much more realistic comparisons than the ones you suggested.
Re: easy (Score:4, Informative)
...China unless they agree to be purchased by a Chinese company?
This is already done. While US & EU (most parts) allow foreign companies to operate locally via a branch office, corporation, company, or majority owned partnerships, this is not so in places like India and China.
There you effectively can only make non-controlling partnerships with an entity that is directly or indirectly controlled by a local citizen. So AMD China and IBM India are actually minority controlled by their respective foreign brands.
Before you consider it being unfair, consider that the US primarily cares about following local laws equally and paying taxes. For India and China, they have had direct European influence and control for over 200 years. Primarily from the U.K. through their chartered corporations. A history both don't want to give any chance of repeating.
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If they block the sale they look strong and can then apply sanctions to the US in retaliation. Maybe destroy Apple, they have been hinting at that for a while.
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China can exert pressure on US operations when its a chinese owner but if its an american based owner their power over the platform to use it to spy on people is lost.
Yeah, this response would really be a head-scratcher if somebody thought the conflict over this company is related to trade! LOL
Of course, if you recognize it as a military cold war, then it makes a lot more sense.
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If the two versions are the same, which one would you pick?
It's just protecting the market for the original.
Why not just embed a VPN in the app? (Score:2)
...VPNs *do* work...No?
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It would still be kicked out of the big app stores, and there's no chance of commercial success for an app if the installation requires first jailbreaking your phone.
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That sort of freedom is both remote and bewildering to Apple mobile users.
Re: Why not just embed a VPN in the app? (Score:2)
I bet China's Great Firewall detects if it cannot fill parse the contents and block is in any case. Or if it detects any encryption handshakes, it might automatically deport you for "reeducation".
Jeez, sometimes I wonder how their leaders sleep at night... Probably the same way as our own. :(
s/fill/fully/ (Score:1)
Just so it's clear what I meant.
Re: (Score:3)
"Timy says his dick is bigger than Jimmy's!" (Score:1)
"And that Jimmy does not get to forcibly take his bike from him.
Tune in next, as Jimmy thumbs his pubescent, musculess* chest to assume dominance.
More news at 11!"
_ _ _ _ ;)
* Germans who watched Sinnlos Im Weltraum will get this.
So what? (Score:3)
Go ahead and close it. I'm sure that, just like China has successfully adopted every Western invention and learnt from IP legally or illegally, this one time maybe a US company can figure out and adopt the success of TikTok. It would've looked rather awkward in the hands of stodgy Microsoft, Oracle or Walmart, of all companies. Though I held my breath for a LinkedIn and SharePoint integration :-)
Commercials (Score:4, Interesting)
Funny how many actual tv commercials I see for TikTok now.
Find myself in agreement with China (Score:2, Interesting)
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I also would like to see TikTok banned in US. Computer and phone use by kids is unavoidable for school and general live.
Yeah, let’s ban everything that people might use irresponsibly. What could possibly go wrong?
China will not let ByteDance's loss benefit anyone (Score:1)
What secret sauce? (Score:3)
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Yeah, nothing says "legitimate business" like being willing to burn it down and lose your whole investment to avoid a forced sale where you make profit on your investment.
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They will take the cost of it to hurt Trump pre-election by provoking anger against banning the app. He miscalculated.
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"They will take the cost of it to hurt Trump pre-election by provoking anger against banning the app. He miscalculated."
How many times did Trump file for bankruptcy? Guess that also had something to do with him miscalculating....
and this is why (Score:1)
Maybe it wasn't intended to be financially viable (Score:1)
It could be worth closing if their intended purpose was to mine personal info for population manipulation instead of sell ads for revenue.
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They tend to prefer the long game. A one-off pile of cash is not their main strategy.
Ignore the politics for a moment and... OBVIOUSLY (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't matter if TikTok is used to spy on Americans or not. The statement "we don't trust you, so we're going to force you to sell to us" is going to cause insult no matter the reason. The only difference in reaction is what flag is painted on the fingernail of the middle-finger used to answer the statement.
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It doesn't matter if TikTok is used to spy on Americans or not.
After having installed TikTok and spent (lost?) a few hours using it, I still don't understand how it can be used to spy on me or what information they can have about me. Can somebody explain ?
I could get my wife back! (Score:2)
shut it down! :-)