I had heard that the existing TikTok app will shut down in the U.S, with the investment consortium launching a new TikTok US app and re-training the algorithm on U.S. users only. If this is true, it might have the same effect: speedbumps where users have to download a new app and lose all their personalization often lead to massive drops in userbase, as they figure that if they have to start from scratch anyway, they might as well start from scratch doing something else.

> The ideal is that people stop using ______

Fill in the blank with whatever you find personally disagreeable: TikTok, alcohol, sports gambling, hallucinogens, video games, cigars, sugary foods, etc.

Unfortunately you're right. Including the last part.

IMO the ideal is incredibly strong data privacy laws such that it does not matter if consumer products are owned by a rich guy in Mountain View or Abu Dhabi.

Well, TikTok is and will still be the dominant force in that area, and I don't think Instagram will win this time. For photos? Instagram is still the king of the hill. For video consumption? TikTok is the king.

We could be spending all this effort on curing diseases...how stupid we can be.

It is so outrageous to value Tiktok USA at $14 billion.

Forget Meta's market cap, does anyone think Zuckerberg wouldn't have paid 20 billion for Tiktok USA ?

Just so corrupt and to even call it a sweetheart deal is outrageous.

I thought it should just be banned in the US. The idea we are basically strong arming a whole nation and stealing a company at a bullshit valuation is completely insane.

"Sell to our preferred investors for pennies on the dollar or lose access to the most lucrative market in the world". It's not like TikTok had a choice.

For what it's worth, this is just TikTok US, not TikTok as a whole. Make of that what you will.

Gotta have enough parties in on it so that there's no one party responsible enough to face consequences when it all goes tits up.

It is a tool to control people they don't want to shut it down.

Donald Trump and his friends are making the decisions. They have ignored the law you mentioned because they don't like it.

> This is a straight up giveaway to friends.

None of Tiktok's executives were present, and China has not confirmed the sale. So, I don't think clown's EO means anything. He's living in his own la la land :-)

IIRC previous talk for TikTok US valuations / buyout was ~40B. But Tiktok was at ~20% Bytedance / PRC ownership before and after. US ownership to boost from 60-80%. So not really sure who this is boning more.

It's all a grift. The cynic in me says that if you looked close enough, you'd find some large deposits into Trump coin or World Liberty Finacial shortly before this announcement.

Larry Ellison will own the data. It already is hosted on Oracle Cloud.

The data won't leave the US, the UAE are paying a protection tax.

Larry Ellison is far more concerning:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/5038379

Between them and a16z, this is Israel taking control of a channel they view as threatening as it gives Palestinians a voice.

No they wont, teens everywhere still use IG, and YT.

Did we really though?

That was government of qatar, this is Abu Dhabi (UAE). They had a diplomatic crisis, with full-scale blockade not so long ago.

You mean having their capital bombed with zero response from U.S.-supplied air defense systems is great ROI?

This comment shows an astounding lack of knowledge of not only current events but also even the most basic middle east geopolitics.

Wait until the intel from the bugs comes in!

OT but i think the 747 story deserves a bit more nuance. First of all to be clear i'm dismayed by the idea. It's not great optics that Trump wants to keep the plane (library force one?) . Even accepting it in the first place is also odd. Add to that, using it as Air Force One seems to be impractical.

BUT, there is precedent for this move. They gifted an even more expensive plane to Erdogan. From what i understand they have been trying to sell the plane for a while. It seems even they have trouble affording it's upkeep. Turns out there isn't a huge market for luxury private jumbo jets. From their perspective it's a white elephant. Trump is aware of that.

I heard another explanation that this is a way of putting lateral pressure on boeing. Trump is frustrated with the progress of the new air force one. His current one is aging. It makes sense as it's a typical tactic of his.

I'm not coming to defend it, just to explain some of the rationale behind the decision.

(edit to reply to several comments. First of all air force one is well maintained but it's old already. Parts and repairs become more difficult and the amount of miles left on the airframe can't be too high. Replacement is necessary. As to building a new plane out of spares being faster... Just ask boeing how that's going for them. They even had the fuselages ready and waiting for quite some time. Boeing executives know they will face some actual consequences for murdering the POTUS, which is probably why it's taking so long. It's difficult to build a plane properly when you've gotten rid of everyone who knows how and you've sold half of your factories, some to even more bad faith actors then yourself.)

Congratulations to TikTok for avoiding being kicked out of the US market.

Now let’s do LPs of famous American VCs