China Weighs Sale of TikTok US to Musk as a Possible Option
www.bloomberg.com
Chinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operations of TikTok if the company fails to fend off a controversial ban on the short-video app, according to people familiar with the matter.
  • zbyte64@awful.systemsEnglish
    14·
    2 days ago

    There’s already a mass exodus to RedNote, and I gotta say, I love that there are no ads.

      • zbyte64@awful.systemsEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        Sure, which is why installing it is largely a protest. I don’t think US tiktokkers are going to seriously learn pinyin so they can properly tag their post.

        • atrielienz@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          Protests are supposed to inconvenience the institution and other people not involved in the situation so that they empathize and push for change. This isn’t a particularly good protest if it’s not doing those things. It doesn’t seem to be inconveniencing the supreme Court, the federal government, or people who don’t use tik tok so …

          • zbyte64@awful.systemsEnglish
            1·
            14 hours ago

            Protest can also be a form of art and memetic transmission. Don’t be so quick to dismiss others.

        • alcoholicorn@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          18 hours ago

          Except it’s owned by Xingyin Information Technology? And I didn’t see any ads on Tiktok for Rednote, just creators telling me that’s where they’re going.

          Did you just make that up, or did someone lie to you?

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        24 hours ago

        I think that’s the point… Its a protest, and RedNote doesn’t even pretend that it isn’t a part of the CCP. The tiktok users know this, they are just trying to give the biggest middle finger they can.

          • alcoholicorn@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            19 hours ago

            Given that I live in America, I’d rather China controlling my apps than the American government.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            21 hours ago

            It’s a protest, it won’t last forever. Americans aren’t going to learn Mandarin fluently.

            99% off the comments are in Mandarin, and like 50% of the UI is still in Mandarin even from US app stores.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    Musk lost a lot of money on his last social media company purchase, Twitter, after spending some time in court trying to abort the purchase. I’m not at all sure that he wants to buy another social media company.

    • masterofn001@lemmy.caEnglish
      17·
      2 days ago

      It was and never will be about how much it cost or lost.

      It was always about the dismantling of lefty spaces, the control of speech, and a pulpit to announce his decrees as a disciple of baphomet and kek.

      170 million Americans and all their data suddenly under his authority would be worth more than you could imagine. That worth would not be in any currency.

      • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
        1·
        2 days ago

        It was always about the dismantling of lefty spaces,

        Hmm these “allies” appear to be unreliable, I wonder why

    • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
      12·
      2 days ago

      He got so much more out of Twitter than we could have imagined, he lit the USA on fire with it, that’s worth much more than the couple of billion lost. I think TikTok is even more powerful than Twitter.

      It’s a match made in heaven, win, win, win for every autocrat involved.

    • Soulifix@kbin.melroy.org
      3·
      2 days ago

      Twitter ended up inadvertently turning to his favor though. It has turned into even more of a hotbed for unchecked, uneducated and loud morons from alt-right/qanon/incel/republicans.

      He gets TikTok though, it’ll just be another platform to blast full volume even more.

      The guy is stupid rich, he could theoretically buy Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp and Reddit if he wanted to. He’s just not choosing to at this time.

  • recursive_recursion they/them@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    With China/the CCP’s supposed financial struggles, selling TikTok to Elon for immediate liquidity does actually make sense.

    huh just the fact that this could happen is a bit funny to see as it does signal that capitalism is a stronger force than authoritarianism

    very odd

    Edit:
    Actually rethinking about this, I’m reconsidering the idea that instead of money the CCP’s probably wants the control of public perception, money doesn’t really make too much sense as selling TikTok would only provide short term cash unless they’re desperate… surely not right?

    • essteeyou@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      2 days ago

      You think the entire nation of China needs a small amount of money from Elon?

      China is the largest holder of foreign reserves in the world, and has been for years. We’re talking trillions of dollars, not a few billion.