Oracle, one of Donald Trump’s favorite companies, wins TikTok deal

Wolvenmoon

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Well on the bright side if you don't like TikTok, Oracle will probably change the usage and licensing terms for it next year and make it prohibitively expensive and confusing.

Of course they won't! They'll keep the main product free. It'll just advertise a free closed-source addon with a separate EULA that indicates any for-profit use requires a paid license and then start suing creators that monetize.
 
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MightyPez

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Well on the bright side if you don't like TikTok, Oracle will probably change the usage and licensing terms for it next year and make it prohibitively expensive and confusing.

Of course they won't! They'll keep the main product free. It'll just advertise a free closed-source addon with a separate EULA that indicates any for-profit use requires a paid license and then start suing creators that monetize.

I was going to make a joke using a specific example in response to this, but I realized it was funnier just to let people guess and think of their own.
 
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ZhanMing057

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Microsoft didn't need to be a part of this shit show. It's perfectly 2020 that this lands in Larry's lap.

I'm rooting for China to just shut it down rather than permit the sale. Just bring on the f'ing stupid, we apparently got plenty to spare.

At this point a shutdown seems likely. As Tim points out, the alternative sets an extremely dangerous precedent. You don't pay the kidnapper because if you do, you'll have another one in no time. Tik tok is a relatively small price to pay to draw that line, so to speak.

Nobody is going to come out of this looking particularly good, but unlike Huawei, which relies on US hardware, there's nothing stopping Tik Tok from ceasing US operations altogether.
 
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jm_leviathan

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Beijing needs to veto this. The only reason not to do so immediately is that a favourable outcome in the US election could potentially render the entire matter moot and so a delay might be prudent if possible. Even if Biden wins, though, it's likely that he would try to use the threat of proceeding to extract other concessions. If so, Beijing should shut the door firmly on this as well. At this first mention of anything resembling a quid quo pro, simply hang up the phone.
 
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Alfonse

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Henceforth, at no point can Republicans claim they are against picking winners and losers in the market without subsequently having longer noses.

Of course they can claim that. They have no shame, and their remaining supporters are incapable of caring about when they lie. They can rationalize any lies they choose to believe.

Only those bound by something as flimsy as facts care about lying.
 
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I foresee an absolute dumpster fire in the future of this deal and I also foresee no losers in that regard.

Both are just....

If Larry Ellison and the head of TikTok were on fire and I only had enough piss to put one of them out, I'd find a toilet and get a burrito.

The only one who loses is Sarah Cooper.... We need to find a new platform to continue her impersonations.
 
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Rainywolf

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This won't happen. China won't let it. And there's plenty of world market outside the US to provide useless services to for TikTok. Plenty of room for profit...it will just be less profit, that's all.

That's the main thing to remember TikTok isn't losing $20 billion dollars. The company doesn't generate a profit. All they are losing is their sunk development cost of the US/Western version.

They bought Music.ly for around a billion and then what spent maybe another billion on build out / promoting TikTok. But only lose the Western market.

At the end of the day they can still make bank (assuming TikTok could ever turn a profit) off the Chinese user base alone.

They just make less money, not no money.
 
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ZhanMing057

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I’m surprised the WTO hasn’t (yet?) been involved with all this sovereign interference in commerce, AFAIK. Certainly seems like it’s relevant to their jurisdiction.

There is a national security and defense exception clause. Anything goes if you claim that there is potential for espionage. In fairness, China uses the same exception to ban Facebook and Google from operating domestically.

WTO regulations about digital goods and online services are a mess, but that's a separate discussion.
 
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So another company wins a deal due to being pals with Trump? Just another day in 2020.

I despise Oracle, and while I've never used TikTok, the fact that this all came about because it was used to troll his dumb ass rally in Tulsa is just insane. Sadly I doubt the courts will do much to fix it because as soon as any administration claims national security no matter how ridiculous the claim is, the courts just go oh, okay... violate some rights then if its in the name of national security.
 
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Hydrargyrum

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I’m surprised the WTO hasn’t (yet?) been involved with all this sovereign interference in commerce, AFAIK. Certainly seems like it’s relevant to their jurisdiction.

There is a national security and defense exception clause. Anything goes if you claim that there is potential for espionage. In fairness, China uses the same exception to ban Facebook and Google from operating domestically.

WTO regulations about digital goods and online services are a mess, but that's a separate discussion.

Could China still bring a complaint by alleging that the national security claim is in bad faith and without valid basis, and therefore WTO still could make a ruling? Or does the US claiming national security automatically mean that WTO can’t or won’t even hear arguments?
 
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Inaksa

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I’m surprised the WTO hasn’t (yet?) been involved with all this sovereign interference in commerce, AFAIK. Certainly seems like it’s relevant to their jurisdiction.

There is a national security and defense exception clause. Anything goes if you claim that there is potential for espionage. In fairness, China uses the same exception to ban Facebook and Google from operating domestically.

WTO regulations about digital goods and online services are a mess, but that's a separate discussion.

Could China still bring a complaint by alleging that the national security claim is in bad faith and without valid basis, and therefore WTO still could make a ruling? Or does the US claiming national security automatically mean that WTO can’t or won’t even hear arguments?

Do the US follow WTO rulings? As far as i know the US do not recognize any order that goes against its interest, the reasoning reduces pretty much to: we are sovereign and no organization will tell us what to do. Example no extraditions requests are acted upon if the involved person is a citizen.
 
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Mustachioed Copy Cat

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Well on the bright side if you don't like TikTok, Oracle will probably change the usage and licensing terms for it next year and make it prohibitively expensive and confusing.

Oracle doesn’t have to change shit. Their poisonous position on API ought to be enough to divert any developer that isn’t already invested, and cause the invested developers to start winding shit down.
 
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