Poor TikTok in America as it makes its way to Microsoft. Forget it. I am not sure if MicroTok, my suggested name for the Microsoft future version, will live up to the glory of the real TikTok. It would be complicated as what makes TikTok hot is the AI which drives those short video recommendations to align perfectly for users. Mess up those AI systems, you have nothing. There is a possibility that MicroTok could struggle because of one thing: the zero privacy in China makes its mobile solutions more engaging as they can use data which American companies cannot use in improving their models.
As the United States government intensifies pressure on TikTok to cut off ties with China or get booted out, the parent company, ByteDance has succumbed to the demands of Trump’s administration as it seems to be the only way out.
ByteDance has offered to forgo its stake in TikTok to a US-based firm in order to stop the video app from being blocked in the United States.
US president Donald Trump said on Friday that he would ban the TikTok within days, because the app poses a security risk under its Chinese parent.
“Not the deal that you have been hearing about, that they are going to buy and sell… we are not an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) country,” Trump said.
The implication is that with TitTok, the app knows you better and can meet your needs better. Contrast that with MicroTok which would be restricted to access some key data points, dropping the fun. Those who have used the real TikTok may be disappointed while new users may not notice, though! It is all politics and the President is smart for not banning this app, as many kids would have taken their pains to the polls. Simply, why take away our fun?
Nonetheless, the President has to begin this app war as that is the only policy he polls well now. Yes, fight China and see the poll numbers rise. TikTok is not the problem the world faces now: Covid-19 has no clarity and we need to focus on it. Of course, that is not to say that we do not have to pay attention to data collected by apps.
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Microsoft (LinkedIn’s parent company) announced that following talks between its chief executive, Satya Nadella, and President Donald Trump, the company will continue discussing the acquisition of TikTok’s U.S. operations with its owner, Chinese technology company ByteDance. The U.S. tech giant revealed in a blog post that it is seeking to conclude talks around a deal by Sept. 15. The post said that Microsoft is “committed” to addressing the president’s concerns over the video-sharing platform. Trump had threatened to ban the app late last week, citing national security.
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A nation state can ban your app for any reason or no reason at all, it doesn’t really matter much, nothing is ever done to make everyone happy. Microsoft can mess it up or make it better, it still doesn’t count much, only to the investors and users; the TikTok is never an operating system where anyone’s existence on the web space is anchored on, it remains just one more addition to amalgam of apps out there.
Yes, the world may still claim to be focusing on Covid-19, but it doesn’t still stop China from managing Honk Kong, or expanding its presence in the South China Sea; the pandemic doesn’t stop North Korea from testing new toy in the ballistic space, or ISIS claiming more mayhem. The virus never stopped Boko Haram or bandits from their daily mayhem down here. It never stopped the successful trip to and from the ISS, everything is happening under the shadow of covid; so Trump banning or threatening to an app is all part of fighting the covid pandemic.
Politics is economics, politics is also security; trying to separate any of them is a lost course.