The weekend brought a series of events around social media company TikTok, resulting in public disclosure that Microsoft is in discussions to take over the company’s US operations. Reuters is reporting that the president, who has been personally involved, has given Microsoft 45 days to close the deal.
We don’t. Here’s why – TikTok was already positioning to go public in the US, which would have come with considerable public scrutiny over all of its policies and procedures. Security researchers have indicated that while there are security concerns, they are in line with software in the same class. This was all on track to be solved by the market itself.
This is a distraction. It’s completely a distraction.
I’ll comment that this is opportunistic for Microsoft – they have been handed the opportunity to have another path to consumers, be instantly a competitor to YouTube and Facebook, and plays well into their Xbox for consumer products. It gives them data for their Artificial Intelligence efforts beyond Office, and ways to test and leverage Augmented Reality in ways beyond Hololens.
There is one opportunity in all of this. Anyone in technology should use this as an opportunity to discuss threats that are relevant when customers or potential customers ask about this. Pivot the conversation to threats they should care about, and advise them to ignore this.
And if they want to feel better, they can delete the app, just like they can delete Facebook or Twitter too.
Source: Reuters
Source: Forbes
Source: The Verge