Microsoft’s Next Big Acquisition Could Be TikTok

[Tsing]

Image: TikTok



Even if you’re an old-timer, you’ve probably heard of ByteDance’s ridiculously popular video-sharing app TikTok, which lets bored teens and other users create dance, lip-sync, and other types of short-form videos. Following allegations of invasive data collection and other major privacy issues (ByteDance, as you probably also know, is based in China), President Trump has proposed banning the app from the U.S. entirely, but according to a story from Reuters, TikTok might be given a second lease on life stateside thanks to new ownership.



China’s ByteDance has reportedly agreed to divest the app’s U.S. operations, relinquishing its user data to another huge entity. Sources claim that this will be no...

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[Brian_B]

I don't even really know what TikTok is, but you would think after all of their failed social media attempts, Microsoft would learn.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

I don't even really know what TikTok is, but you would think after all of their failed social media attempts, Microsoft would learn.

It's a phone app that will help you kill all your time. Similar to Snapchat (short videos) but instead of the videos deleting themselves after viewing (or 24 hours if on your story) the videos stay up until you delete them and are shared with all users of TikTok.

I will say there are some creative people in this world and a lot of them are on tiktok.

 

[Nanobot]

I am tempted to jump on there and post non-stop Free Honk Kong videos just to see how fast my account is terminated.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

I am tempted to jump on there and post non-stop Free Honk Kong videos just to see how fast my account is terminated.

The videos only last at most 60 seconds. So you'd have to upload a lot of them to get a full one.

Lots of people do upload clips from movies. Don't know of anyone who's done a full movie span across multiple videos though. DOET!

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Another story I read today says they're trying to ban TikTok in the US... So confused.

 

[Uvilla]

....its a Chinese owned app.
Its big, its a success, its a target.
In fairness when other countries do this, and have these concerns, I think they are fair concerns. Same for us, they are fair concerns for US to have, and so we have them. They are either getting banned, or be US fully controlled via splitting US market and selling it. I think the splitting is a better option, saves us some face... What little we have left anyway.