Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Trump Signals Opposition

Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by zmmmmm on Saturday August 01, 2020 @05:39PM (#24024109)

The idea that corporations are kowtowing to a polticians individual personal wishes - rather than operating under a framework of laws and regulations based on principles and administered fairly to all - should be offensive to every single American, regardless of who the players are or their country of origin.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by scarface74 on Saturday August 01, 2020 @06:18PM (#24024373)

Well, This is what HN posters want. As evidence by the numerous downvotes I get about not wanting the government involvement in tech. Even after the dog and pony show with the CEO’s last week where one representative grilled Zuckerberg about Twitter’s treatment of Don Jr.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by on_and_off on Saturday August 01, 2020 @08:42PM (#24025283)

Fwiw I did not see your gov comments but I can be both for more gov oversight in tech and against one politician deciding unilaterally what apps are allowed.

If it is necessary to curtail what apps can collect, let's make it a law and apply it evenly to all companies.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by kanox on Saturday August 01, 2020 @06:24PM (#24024418)

The worst political development over the last decade is the very wide embracing of corporate censorship. It is now widely accepted that media platforms have an explicit duty to control public opinion.

In this context any large foreign media outlet becomes a threat.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by JeremyNT on Sunday August 02, 2020 @09:55AM (#24028722)

Social media platforms are tools of information warfare and propaganda. This is what advertising is to begin with, and outside of that obvious function most of these platforms are further optimized to drive engagement by presenting misinformation.

The idea of politicians discriminating against the ones they don't like is repugnant, but these platforms already are already used to control public opinion in ways that are against the public interest, and it's certainly reasonable to suspect that a platform such as TikTok (which is controlled by a competing empire) might be used to that empire's advantage.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by indymike on Monday August 03, 2020 @10:48AM (#24038396)

All of which is either press or speech.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by scarface74 on Saturday August 01, 2020 @06:29PM (#24024458)

I keep hearing this mostly from the conservative side when Trump got elected mostly by bypassing traditional media and using Twitter and social media.

What do you propose? More government involvement to tell tech what they can do on their own platform? Isn’t it kind of hypocritical that the anti regulation party wants regulation when it suits them?

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by saagarjha on Saturday August 01, 2020 @08:37PM (#24025258)

Corporate censorship bites both ways; see Apple's reluctance to approve HKmap.live for its platform.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by scarface74 on Saturday August 01, 2020 @11:25PM (#24026085)

What exactly does that have to do with US policies?

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by saagarjha on Saturday August 01, 2020 @11:29PM (#24026103)

Nothing, that's the point. Censorship is not a "US conservative complaint", it's a problem independent of nationalities or political parties.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by bdcravens on Saturday August 01, 2020 @05:43PM (#24024143)

Perhaps they are waiting to allow government policy to create a better negotiating position.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by bromuro on Saturday August 01, 2020 @10:11PM (#24025752)

On the other side, politicians have always obeyed to corporations desires.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by Seasonwreckage on Saturday August 01, 2020 @05:52PM (#24024200)

Even more pronounced is the silence of life long legislators who were always opposed to this kind of strong man government all along.

Ps: I side with Trump on this one. Just hate the fact that no Republican opposes him anymore.

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by bilbo0s on Saturday August 01, 2020 @05:57PM (#24024225)

It's been my observation that political parties believe in whatever is convenient for them to believe in at any given time. So we shouldn't necessarily be surprised by lack of GOP opposition.

In fairness, I guess people are like that as well. Maybe that sort of duplicity is simply endemic to being human?

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by squarefoot on Saturday August 01, 2020 @06:29PM (#24024454)

> Just hate the fact that no Republican opposes him anymore.

Many do, few have the guts to admit it publicly. Politics is still a business after all.

As an example, The Lincoln Project is made by past and current republicans strongly opposing Trump. https://lincolnproject.us/

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Re:Microsoft and Bytedance Put TikTok Talks on Hold After Tr... by threeseed on Saturday August 01, 2020 @06:32PM (#24024474)

But it is under a framework of laws and regulations.

All governments, including the US, have the legal right to ban companies and block mergers/acquisitions on national security grounds.

Each company has different issues hence why the idea of it not being discretionary doesn't make sense.

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