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posted by martyb on Sunday August 02 2020, @02:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the timing dept.

[20200803_012617 UTC UTC Update 2:]

tl;dr version: Trump threatened to ban TikTok. Then Microsoft said it was in talks to buy TikTok. Then Microsoft said the talks were in doubt after Trump's threats. Now, Microsoft is "continuing discussions."

Microsoft to continue discussions on TikTok purchase after talking to Donald Trump:

After reports US President Donald Trump is considering an order to force Beijing-based tech company ByteDance to divest ownership of popular social-video app TikTok, Microsoft has announced it will be "continuing discussion" on a potential purchase of TikTok after a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the President.

"Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President's concerns," said Microsoft, in a statement. "It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.

[20200802_144217 UTC Update 1; added:]

Microsoft pauses talks on TikTok US deal - reports:

A possible sale of Chinese-owned TikTok's US operations to Microsoft is reportedly on hold after Donald Trump vowed to ban the video-sharing app.

A sale was thought close to agreement, but was put in doubt after the US president's warning on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal said Microsoft had now paused talks despite TikTok owner ByteDance making last ditch efforts to win White House support.

It comes amid criticism of Mr Trump's threat as an attack on free speech.

[...] Late on Friday, Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: "As far as TikTok is concerned we're banning them from the United States."

[Original story follows.--martyb]

TikTok: Trump says he will ban Chinese video app in the US

President Donald Trump has announced he is banning the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok in the US.

He told reporters he could sign an executive order as early as Saturday.

US security officials have expressed concern that the app, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, could be used to collect the personal data of Americans.

[...] Microsoft has reportedly been in talks to buy the app from ByteDance, but Mr Trump appeared to cast doubt that such a deal would be allowed to go through. If the deal went ahead reports say it would involve ByteDance shedding TikTok's US operations.

A TikTok-Microsoft Deal Might Solve Everything (archive)

On Friday, Bloomberg News reported Trump plans to order ByteDance Ltd. to divest its ownership of TikTok. Then later in the afternoon, several media outlets reported Microsoft Corp. is in talks to purchase TikTok's U.S. operations.

[...] There seem to be two active bidders for the app. One is Microsoft. As for the other, Reuters reported earlier this week that some of Bytedance's U.S investors have proposed a bid for a majority stake of TikTok, valuing the company's non-China operations at $50 billion. The offer would be about 50 times TikTok's forecast sales of $1 billion this year, Reuters reported.

Previously: Bytedance: The World's Most Valuable Startup
Lawmakers Ask US Intelligence to Assess If TikTok is a Security Threat
TikTok and 53 Other iOS Apps Still Snoop Your Sensitive Clipboard Data
India Bans TikTok, WeChat, and Other Chinese-Owned Apps


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Sunday August 02 2020, @03:52PM (3 children)

    by KilroySmith (2113) on Sunday August 02 2020, @03:52PM (#1030315)

    I've been asking the same question. What authority does the President have to "ban" an app?

    He could, I guess, call it a national security issue - TikTok collecting user information somehow affects national security, thus shouldn't be allowed to operate in the USA. Such a finding would, I should think, horrify the Googles, Facebooks, Instagrams, and Twitters of the world as it would have huge implications on their collection, use, and sale of similar information.

    Still, I would expect strong push-back from the EFF and ACLU - banning a popular method of communications would seem to conflict with the first amendment to the US Constitution.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @06:59PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @06:59PM (#1030388)

    TikTok collecting user information somehow affects national security

    Oh no! The CCP knows we have twerks and cat videos. Seriously, what's on TikTok that threatens national security? OK, they have metadata. They can aggregate a lot of stuff. They could even dig dirt on some people that are stupid enough to say... post a twerking video with the girl they're cheating on... but if you're that stupid you're going to get caught anyway and that's INDIVIDUAL security, not national security so... again... what's TikTok doing that threatens national security? People are posting stuff, right? It's public. If the app claims that it's private, everybody should know that's right up there with "I have a bridge to sell you". If people with access to classified data are posting it on the public Internet, that's espionage on the person that does it, not the app. I don't get it.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @07:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @07:25PM (#1030395)

      AFAIK, the app itself has excessive permissions on the phone, it could conceivably be easily programmed to turn on sensors and networks if geolocated to a place the Chinese are interested in.

      That problem isn't new. Furbys were banned from spy offices ~20 years ago, and it used to be that personal phones had to be locked up before entering a secure facility. The BYOD movement has toppled those rules in the commercial arena at least.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2020, @01:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2020, @01:11AM (#1031055)

      Here's a question. How many Americans serve in the government, federal, state or municipal? What's the headcount of their immediate friends or families that can influence those people? Out of that number, what's the likelyhood on their social media data and likely other more private data collected, directly or as a digital trail through that initial collection, that can be used to manipulate those in the government position's behavior, even slightly to overlook something or prefer one decision over another?

      This isn't a conspiracy theory. We've already seen them doing it against Professors in Universities with the recent arrest. Without the data collection and information insights from it, they wouldn't have known the right levers and buttons needed to get the outcome they want.

      Sure, your own government is doing the same thing, but the outcome is quite different when a foreign government is doing it. If that isn't related to national security/sovereignity, what is?