TikTok Banned in America |Trump's digital strike on China

-America did a digital strike on China!

After India, now in the US, the Chinese app Tik Tok (Tik Tok) can be banned at any time. US President Donald Trump is preparing to ban the Chinese app Tick Talk. For this, he is also considering several options.

During a press conference, Donald Trump said that as far as concerns related to Tik Tok are concerned, we are going to ban it in America. Let us tell you that the experts of Silicon Valley had appealed to America that like India, America should also ban Tik Tok. Trump had said, "Our administration is also evaluating it to take action on tick talk."

A popular Chinese video app has now become a source of national security and censorship issues. The Indian government's digital strike on companies associated with China continues. India banned 47 more apps from China. In the past, 59 apps from China have been banned, including TikTok. Later banned apps include mostly cloning apps.

-Will TikTok banned in America

Then on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that action would be taken in the coming days to address "national security risks that are presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party", including the short-form video app.

India took such a measure when it banned TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps. And users have reported being unable to circumvent the block by using a virtual private network (VPN).

TikTok is being banned by Trump as the global fight/competition heats up between the USA and China. The strong strategic move by Trump.

The acquisition of TikTok reportedly by Microsoft is in keeping with the Trump/Pompeo strategy of China containment. Regardless of what anyone says about India, that did not play into any decision on the strategic side (a nice side benefit) but a big part on the business strategy side.

Here are the reasons this is being done:

JUST GOOD GLOBAL BUSINESS WHICH AMERICAN CORPORATES ARE GREAT AT

1. Good business for Microsoft, every once in a while they acquire this, remember Skype (a winner, kind of) or Nokia mob phones (a failure). This time TikTok is the right idea, social media platform and potentially a massive winner for MS. Also:
2. Power/Competition - It’s a good idea to not have any more power concentrated on Facebook in particular or Twitter. Competition is a good thing, this makes it an American owned platform and will reduce the anti-trust talk around Facebook and also cut into their users.
3. India Part I - yes good for that relationship too. Back into India where TikTok is a big deal, bigger than the US footprint. That alone justifies the price for Microsoft.
4. a. India Part II - Google is investing in JIO for cheap mob phones to cut into the current 75% Chinese share. This is another blow to China to keep out of India.
5. Globally - if you are pro American, this is a big win for the continued USA high tech dominance. If you are not, then you should have pushed someone in your country, like France or the UK or Germany to have scooped up TikTok. That would have been acceptable to the US but not as profitable as Microsoft has the heft and market share to push it and make it a massive even bigger winner.

SECURITY & STRATEGY

•  It doesn’t matter what anyone says, anything that cuts the global Chinese IT footprint is worth it for the Americans to block.
• I am sure that Pompeo had his hand in this and Trump’s blessing. So yes, security was not so much about TikTok control of data, rather a more straight forward, TikTok is now American and therefore the USA has won another battle with China.
• Also India Part III - Anything that makes India closer to the USA is a big win for the USA and the west especially the 5 Amigos (USA, UK, Australia, NZ, and Canada) which will be wooing India to join them and anchor down the Indian Ocean.

And finally, no one wanted to lose the fun of TikTok but let’s be honest, they are a little too frantic right now in their expansion. It is not always about conquering the world in a nanosecond. They are going to get their megabucks and the world has an alternative fun platform to the FB/Twitter/Google suite of apps.

-Will Microsoft buy TikTok

Microsoft on Sunday confirmed that it is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of the short video platform, TikTok in the United States. The Satya Nadella-led company in a blog post revealed that Microsoft has discussed the security concerns with US President Donald Trump and it plans to seal the deal with TikTok’s parent company Bytedance by September 15, 2020.

“Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns. 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. Microsoft will move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a matter of weeks, and in any event completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020. During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States Government, including with the President”.

If Microsoft takes over the US arm of Byte dance-owned TikTok, it will operate the short video platform in countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. “The two companies have provided notice of their intent to explore a preliminary proposal that would involve a purchase of the TikTok service in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and would result in Microsoft owning and operating TikTok in these markets. Microsoft may invite other American investors to participate on a minority basis in this purchase,” the company said in a blog.

Microsoft also said that it will make sure that all the private data of American TikTok users would not be shared with any of the countries and would remain in the United States. It further said that if by fluke a data is transferred outside the United States, Microsoft will make sure that data is deleted from servers outside the country after it is transferred. This is one of the prime reasons why TikTok is facing heat in countries like the United States and even India, where it was banned a few months ago. TikTok was accused of sharing the private data of users with China.

Microsoft will take cognizance of all the security and privacy concerns, also plans to add world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections. It also ensures complete transparency to users and the governments. “This new structure would build on the experience TikTok users currently love while adding world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections. The operating model for the service would be built to ensure transparency to users as well as appropriate security oversight by governments in these countries,” the company said

- Trump after Microsoft buying TikTok

Trump has said he will still block TikTok regardless of whether Microsoft buys it. Another strategic move as this will drop the price of TikTok for MS or kill it as the USA and India will have dropped TT and this will put pressure on other markets. Tough moment for TT, this is how it is going to go in the future.

- What China Says About TikTok Being Sold To Microsoft

China’s state-run media outlets, which are often viewed as a gauge of sentiment among senior officials, widely condemned the United States this week over the potential sale of operations for social media app TikTok to tech giant Microsoft in many English-language countries, calling it “theft” and “open robbery” of Chinese technology.

In an op-ed published Monday, state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times, accused the United States of “killing China’s most competitive companies” by threatening to ban TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, out of “cowardice” because it sees it as a threat to other American technology companies.

Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, further criticized the potential sale as an “open robbery,” adding that “President Trump is turning the once great America into a rogue country.”

Another state-backed publication, China Daily, criticized Trump’s comments as being “tantamount to inviting potential U.S. purchasers to participate in an officially sanctioned ‘steal’ of Chinese technology.”

The newspaper branded the move as a planned “smash and grab,” while also suggesting that China could retaliate and will by “no means accept the ‘theft’ of a Chinese technology company” lying down.

“In terms of response, we might see the [Chinese] government direct this public ire against U.S. companies operating in China via boycotts or other measures,” says Evan Rees, Asia Pacific Analyst with Stratfor, a RANE company.

TikTok has been in Washington’s crosshairs for quite some time now, with many top officials accusing the Chinese-owned app of collecting data on Americans for the Chinese government. After initially threatening to ban the social media app, President Trump said in his latest comments that he would give Microsoft the go-ahead to pursue a deal if a “very substantial” portion of the proceeds go to the U.S. Treasury. He also mentioned that a deal would be easier if Microsoft were to purchase the Chinese-owned app in its entirety, a day after the company confirmed that it was looking at buying TikTok’s operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Disputes over technology and intellectual property have been at the heart of deteriorating U.S.-China tensions, as evidenced by America’s past efforts to block Chinese tech company Huawei.