TikTok is in trouble: Everything you need to know
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TikTok is in trouble: Everything you need to know
Jumping Trout, LLC
(CNET August 1, 2020) If you've been living under a rock for the past couple months, you may not have heard of TikTok, a video sharing app that exploded in popularity from bored people in quarantine. Known for quirky, short videos - and being the cool version of Vine (RIP) - TikTok might not be around much longer.
President Trump is looking to shut down TikTok because of its ties to China. On Friday, the president was considering an order that would force TikTok's parent company to divest its US operations. Microsoft is considering buying the app, according to the New York Times, but nothing has been confirmed.
TikTok originally attracted the government's attention from concerns of data collection on US users - data that could be shared with the Chinese government. Since then, all military and government employees can no longer download the app on their phones and an investigation of TikTok (and Zoom for some reason) is on the brink.
The US isn't the first nation to have concerns over this app, India has already banned the app and Australia has considered blocking it. With over 2 billion downloads though, it might be difficult to ban the app due to consumer popularity. Not only that, but the app is also hiring over 10,000 people in the US for a variety of positions - a point that could smooth things over with some lawmakers.
However, the threat of spying on US citizens is still prevalent. But TikTok has US based offices and a US based CEO, who claims that no data is ever shared to the Chinese government. Bytedance, the chinese company that services the app, might hand over it's power to Microsoft, which would allow the app to survive.
This case is still developing, and who knows if the US government will actually follow through with their threat to ban TikTok. But it sounds like the company has a plan to keep the app on our phones and save us from boredom.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/trump-targets-tiktok-everything-you-need-to-know/
President Trump is looking to shut down TikTok because of its ties to China. On Friday, the president was considering an order that would force TikTok's parent company to divest its US operations. Microsoft is considering buying the app, according to the New York Times, but nothing has been confirmed.
TikTok originally attracted the government's attention from concerns of data collection on US users - data that could be shared with the Chinese government. Since then, all military and government employees can no longer download the app on their phones and an investigation of TikTok (and Zoom for some reason) is on the brink.
The US isn't the first nation to have concerns over this app, India has already banned the app and Australia has considered blocking it. With over 2 billion downloads though, it might be difficult to ban the app due to consumer popularity. Not only that, but the app is also hiring over 10,000 people in the US for a variety of positions - a point that could smooth things over with some lawmakers.
However, the threat of spying on US citizens is still prevalent. But TikTok has US based offices and a US based CEO, who claims that no data is ever shared to the Chinese government. Bytedance, the chinese company that services the app, might hand over it's power to Microsoft, which would allow the app to survive.
This case is still developing, and who knows if the US government will actually follow through with their threat to ban TikTok. But it sounds like the company has a plan to keep the app on our phones and save us from boredom.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/trump-targets-tiktok-everything-you-need-to-know/
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