China Refuses to Accept 'Theft' of TikTok if US Acquisition Goes Ahead

[FaustsHausUK]

I'm glad that there is *finally* a serious competitor to Facebook which actually brings people dynamic content rather than the endlessly negative Facebook posts I see every day. I just wish that competitor wasn't a Chinese owned company of course.

I hope the Microsoft acquisition goes through as I'd hate to see all the creators on TikTok once again under the boot of Mark Zuckerberg if they all move over to instagram.

If the sale doesn't goes through and social media is further consolidated under Zuckerberg the next step is to break up Facebook. This monopoly can't stand.

Microsoft are not the best owner and steward for this app, given their own history - United States vs Microsoft Corp, Microsoft vs (European) Commission, and their aggressive copying of more successful software recently evidenced in Teams copying Slack. They just have the wallets, appetite, and aren’t Facebook or Google.

 

[ksec]

I don't recall China asking those companies to be broken up and sold to Chinese companies. Could you point us to a factual link? Also, there's a difference between outright not allowing/banning something because it violates national rules (if you don't agree to those rules, don't do business here) and allowing something at first and then changing your mind. The US government had no problem with TikTok doing business in the US. Only when it became politically convenient for Trump - anything to distract from the 150,000+ covid deaths his incompetence has cost thus far - did they start making noises about an unproven 'national security threat'.

You can read up on what is happening with ARM 's JV in China called ARM China, and its current situation with ARM China's CEO.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Maybe because I've never used it, but I can't understand why this property is so valuable. It seems like something that would flame out on its own eventually anyway. And why Microsoft would want to be part of it? It seems like a tainted brand with the security concerns. Microsoft has a great brand name. I really didn't know about Tik Tok before this, and since I have heard about it, I've only heard negative things.

 

[ruka.snow]

it’s interesting to see what you make out of my comment.

it’s also interesting and more so hypocritical of china to talk about theft when they copy and thereby steal intellectual property, and have been doing so for years. i’m not talking about tiktok. it’s called shanzhai.

You talk of China as if it is one entity. You know in the EU we don't blame the entire USA for the actions of scammers and snake oil salesmen and we know know every one of the billion people in India is working in a call centre trying to defraud granny.

 

[twolf2919]

I'll Correct your mistake, not Trump and China, more like China and all of America if not the world. After all, they did give us the world's crisis of a lifetime, the pandemic and the Chinese Communist Party is hardly apologetic about it either.

They didn't build this virus - it was created by nature - by chance, that was in China. Maybe their bureaucracy could have dealt with it more swiftly, but that's all you can really blame the Chinese for. The US President is directly responsible for the outlandish number of deaths suffered here because of his many incompetent acts.

 

[Jyby]

Wondering when all this data collection will turn and bite those who use TikTok?
After they pull those things from our cold fingers of those who resisted and then vote in their leaders who embrace china's social credit score system in the USA and say to those who are remain: "Way back in 2020 here's a video and face recognition verified of you admitting a non-state approved word by saying "omg", you are now banned from traveling or owning a vehicle for life."

I don’t think it will have any impact personally on US users... They will use the data to improve AI and Machine Learning products to sell to the world.. and the US is afraid of that and competition.
It’s only stealing if a Chinese company is collecting and sharing data back home to China.. But Edward Snowden showed us that US companies are doing the same and giving the data to the US government.
The US doesn’t have a real case here. TikTok is no more a threat to the Us than Facebook is to China... China just recognized it first and banned it.

 

[twolf2919]

Very interesting to hear China complain about technological and intellectual theft.

They're not. They're complaining about plain old theft.

 

[Jyby]

Maybe because I've never used it, but I can't understand why this property is so valuable. It seems like something that would flame out on its own eventually anyway. And why Microsoft would want to be part of it? It seems like a tainted brand with the security concerns. Microsoft has a great brand name. I really didn't know about Tik Tok before this, and since I have heard about it, I've only heard negative things.

It’s where a lot of impressionable memes and pop culture are being originally created right now.. Even more than on YouTube cause it’s so easy to make videos in the app

 

[yaxomoxay]

Maybe because I've never used it, but I can't understand why this property is so valuable. It seems like something that would flame out on its own eventually anyway. And why Microsoft would want to be part of it? It seems like a tainted brand with the security concerns. Microsoft has a great brand name. I really didn't know about Tik Tok before this, and since I have heard about it, I've only heard negative things.

TikTok is actually a powerhouse. I can see why Microsoft would want it (esp. if they are able to "link" its business with the Xbox).

 

[yaxomoxay]

But Edward Snowden showed us that US companies are doing the same and giving the data to the US government.

I haven't read Snowden's biography yet (it's on my list!), but wasn't the US government spying on its own, with little or no help from companies?

 

[Jyby]

TikTok is actually a powerhouse. I can see why Microsoft would want it (esp. if they are able to "link" its business with the Xbox).

I truly believe anything non business related Microsoft touches they ruin... They even ruin their own products- Xbox is whack... Zune was a total failure. Microsoft is the worst company to take over. SnapChat should buy TikTok IMO

 

[Jyby]

I haven't read Snowden's biography yet (it's on my list!), but wasn't the US government spying on its own, with little or no help from companies?

They were- but then they forced companies to help them.. Some resisted and some accepted. This is why iCloud backups are not encrypted on Apples servers.. And why Facebook lets the NSA into its servers

 

[yaxomoxay]

I truly believe anything non business related Microsoft touches they ruin... They even ruin their own products- Xbox is whack... Zune was a total failure. Microsoft is the worst company to take over. SnapChat should buy TikTok IMO

Xbox isn't really a whack.
At any rate, I wouldn't compare Ballmer's Microsoft (Zune) with Nadella's Microsoft.
[automerge]1596548335[/automerge]

They were- but then they forced companies to help them.. Some resisted and some accepted. This is why iCloud backups are not encrypted on Apples servers.. And why Facebook lets the NSA into its servers

I truly need to read that book.

 

[twolf2919]

You can read up on what is happening with ARM 's JV in China called ARM China, and its current situation with ARM China's CEO.

I didn't ask whether China did this to any other company - I asked whether it did it to the ones the poster used. ARM isn't even an American company, so what does it have to do with the spat between China and US?

 

[rp2011]

Good for them. At least someone is standing up to this. This is all so sleazy I can’t believe we are so used to this nonsense. The American people have been so bludgeoned with daily sleaze, corruption and stupidity that people are desensitized to the insanity of this President.

 

[anthogag]

I don’t use TikTok but they apparently capture a lot of user information. China is totalitarian communist regime that can ‘tap’ any Chinese business. This US concern about a Chinese company with a popular world-wide app is legitimate.

 

[redhawk87]

This is just my opinion, but Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, etc. are all american companies banned in China. America will possibly ban its second Chinese company and China flips out. How is this fair? I feel China is slowly just distancing itself from the rest of the world. I know they have over a billion people, but their population is about to decline if it has not already. They need the rest of the world to become a global power. In order for China to have huge global companies like Huawei and TikTok, they will need to put measures in place to make sure the Chinese government has no control over the data of non-Chinese citizens

 

[Dreamer2go]

I don’t use TikTok but they apparently capture a lot of user information. China is totalitarian communist regime that can ‘tap’ any Chinese business. This US concern about a Chinese company with a popular world-wide app is legitimate.

Did you guys forget about Snowden? Did you not remember he whistle-blewed on Cisco having the "backdoor" to access all of your information .... for the US government? Same thing. But there is no evidence TikTok has been spying for the CCP.
This sounds like a retaliation of Trump being a pathetic child because TikTok was used to ask people not to show up to his rally, and using CCP as an excuse to justify his reason to ban TikTok.

 

[yaxomoxay]

This sounds like a retaliation of Trump being a pathetic child because TikTok was used to ask people not to show up to his rally, and using CCP as an excuse to justify his reason to ban TikTok.

Then why Schumer agrees and actually pointed out the issue months ago?

With all these people talking about TikTok and the alleged role in having people not show up at Trump's rally (something that can't be proven), I am starting to think that it's a rumor pushed by China itself when they learned about the US's idea of banning TikTok.

 

[rp2011]

All the usual partisans stand up to support fascism over a silly children’s app, but silent when the fascist goes against his own national security officials where it comes to Communist Russia and Putin.
Rally against fact-checking, wearing health related masks, safe voting and children’s apps and whatever other nonsense they are told to.
Now that’s rich!

 

[MRrainer]

it doesnt matter if stupid trump can't find a legal justification for taking a cut.
better to try to get legal experts to advise us if this has been done before.

but also notice how quickly toadie microsoft agreed to give the USA treasury money in order to make a grab.
use the trump rationale to make an illegal acquisition.

this sounds illegal and corrupt in the extreme. america is surely turning into a 3rd world gun boat "democracy". fast.

Spoiler: it always was.

Google "War is a racket" and realize this has been going on for a long, long time.

 

[Stella]

It's concerning that Trump wants the u.s treasury to have a large portion of the sale price... wtf.

Donald Trump: US Treasury should get cut of TikTok deal

The president has given Microsoft 45 days to reach a deal or he will ban the app in the US.

www.bbc.com

 

[jicon]

I'll Correct your mistake, not Trump and China, more like China and all of America if not the world. After all, they did give us the world's crisis of a lifetime, the pandemic and the Chinese Communist Party is hardly apologetic about it either.

'World's crisis of a lifetime'... right. There's been a lot of wars and lots of plagues in the last 100 years. I'm certain there's a few out there in the world that have been through a bit more than a stay at home order.

And... I'm not seeing an apology from any nation, let alone China. Most likely, transmission in to North America was escalated from travel from Europe and Iran. It's all of our problem.

 

[rp2011]

The silver lining to all this insanity is that the majority of the American people disapprove of this President and we’ll hopefully get him out and ready for the courts and prosecutors of New York by the end of the year.

 

[magbarn]

You mean bigger than the United States demonstratively already is? I don’t think so.

When the US starts dumping fill dirt and then building a military base in the middle of the ocean in an area that is disputed with several other countries and declaring it US territory with all the surrounding water and oil deposits then you have a case.