Posted on 07/31/2020 1:07:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft is currently in talks buy the U.S. operations of hit video app TikTok, according to The New York Times.
The report comes shortly after Bloomberg reported that President Donald Trump plans to order Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, to sell its stake in the app on Friday.
According to pool reports, Trump told reporters, “We’re looking at TikTok, we may be banning TikTok.”
Microsoft did not immediately respond to request made by Digital Trends. We will update this story when we hear back.
In a statement to Digital Trends, TikTok declined to comment on “rumors or speculation.”
“We are confident in the long-term success of TikTok,” a TikTok spokesperson said. “Hundreds of millions of people come to TikTok for entertainment and connection, including our community of creators and artists who are building livelihoods from the platform. We’re motivated by their passion and creativity, and committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”
Fox Business Network’s Charles Gasparino reported that the White House is “deeply concerned” about the purchase, specifically whether if any Chinese investors will hold a remaining stake.
The Trump administration has long been critical of TikTok, and in July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to ban the app in America over national security risks.
Trump’s stance against TikTok aligns with his goal to rid the U.S. of Chinese technology companies, which he believes are using tech to spy on Americans via data collection. The U.S. is not the only country to express reservations about TikTok; India banned the app over similar concerns.
Experts have said TikTok’s policy on data collection is very similar to U.S.-run companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
(Excerpt) Read more at digitaltrends.com ...
Will MSFT close Tick Tock’s back doors to Beijing?
Almost like being asked which head do you want chopped off... The one one your shoulders or the one between your legs...
Espionage, violation of US Law, stand to lose license to operate in a large part of the world.
Will anyone believe MSFT when they say they've done so?
Whom, or what, are you referring to?
Maybe we can hold some hearings on it in a few years.
Just make another.
It’s just Vine with communism.
That would be hilarious - Microsquish buying a crummy chi-knee spy app just before it gets banned.
“American” ownership won’t change the reality that everything on any device with TikTok on it or any device that connects to it will be routed straight to China’s database for its AI to use building a prediction and control system for use against Americans.
Of course that is true of any device made in China or containing any part made in China.
Forget about TikTok, have you seen or experienced any of the list of Windows 10 version 2004 known issues? Two weeks ago there was this: https://wccftech.com/and-it-begins-all-the-windows-10-version-2004-known-issues-list, while I have something like this: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/help-fix-event-642/198b9f3f-f052-4e88-87c4-b96b720e94dd?auth=1&page=1
I updated to 2004 and rather than a BSOD, putting the PC to sleep results in it doing an “unexpected shurtdown.”
Moreover, even though I have over 50GB of hard drive space allocated for System Restore (C:\Windows\System32\rstrui.exe), Windows deleted all my restore points prior to the last update. And also shows no update history, even though (Run) winver shows Version 2004 build 19041.1.
Yay.
Now we’ll have domestically distributed animal torture porn.
No matter WHAT I do, Win10 STILL installs “updates” even though I’ve turned them off, set it to never check and everything else.
It just does what it wants, when it wants.
I fecking HATE this OS.
All of the China spyware will still be active.
It's a damn shame, too, because under all the crap, the basic underlying OS is actually very good. But it's hidden.
Microsoft's motivation for forcing updates -could- have been positive -- we're improving security and we want you to have all the latest bug fixes and patches -- but while that's part of it I don't believe it's the primary reason. They're in control and they want you to know it.
I find their alleged friendly phrasings ("Hi, we'll be just another minute") to be snarky and condescending. "Attention, Comrade User, you will wait patiently until we are done with this computer" would be so much more honest.
When "My Computer" became "This PC" I knew the charade was over.
Perfectly put.
I agree with all of that.
This is the first laptop I’ve ever had that I couldn’t scrape it down to bare metal and install the OS I liked.
This time, there are simply no drivers available for most of the hardware.
I mentioned the Alienware 18 that went wonky and showed you the terrifying memory error results.
I blew the bucks on new memory and now no errors, but it’s running *really* draggy, as if it’s only got 4g of ram or something.
One day I will reinstall Win7 and see if it helps.
Until then, I’m having to use an Alienware 17 they sent me as a replacement.
/I’ve named it Christine
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