TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance is in talks with India’s Reliance for investment in the short-video sharing app, reports said on Thursday.
According to the report, The two companies began conversations late last month and have not reached a deal yet.
Reliance, ByteDance and TikTok did not immediately respond over this matter.
The Indian government in June banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, for threatening its “sovereignty and integrity” after border tensions with China.
Facebook rolled out its own version of social media rival TikTok in the United States and more than 50 other countries on Wednesday, embedding a new short-form video service called Reels as a feature within its popular Instagram app.
The launch of Reels increased Facebook shares by more than 6% making Mark Zuckerberg who owns a 13% stake in the company the new member of the exclusive ‘Centibillionaire Club’ alongside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
Tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google have been among the biggest benefactors of coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions as more people shop, watch entertainment, and socialise online.
According to the details, Zuckerberg’s personal wealth increased about $22b this year, while Bezos’s has grown by more than $75b.
The launch of Reels couldn’t have come at a better time for Facebook as Donald Trump issued an executive order to deal with what the US president called the “threat” of TikTok in the US.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google owner Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, and Apple’s Tim Cook parried a range of accusations that they crippled smaller rivals in their quest for market share.
US senator Bernie Sanders this week unveiled the Make Billionaires Pay Act plan to tax what he called “obscene wealth gains” made by billionaires during the pandemic.
The act aims to tax 60% of the increase in a billionaire’s net worth from the start of the pandemic through to the end of the year.
Facebook on Wednesday launches its own version of video-sharing app TikTok called Reels as a feature within Instagram in the United States and 50 other countries.
According to the details, Facebook launches Reels officially, a copycat version of TikTok that pairs with Instagram.
The debut comes days after Microsoft said it was in talks to acquire TikTok’s US operations from China’s ByteDance. ByteDance has agreed to divest parts of TikTok, sources have said, under pressure from the White House which has threatened to ban it and other Chinese-owned apps over data security concerns.
China will not accept the ‘theft’ of a Chinese tech company and is able to respond to Washington’s move to push ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft.
According to reports, the United States’ “bullying” of Chinese tech companies a consequence of Washington’s zero-sum vision of “American first” and left China no choice but “submission or mortal combat in the tech realm”,
However, China had plenty of ways to respond if the administration carries out its planned smash and grab, reports added.
Microsoft Corp said it was in talks with ByteDance to buy parts of TikTok after U.S. President Donald Trump reversed course on a plan to ban the app on national security grounds and gave the firms 45 days to strike a deal.
Moreover, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Trump would take action shortly against Chinese software companies that shared user data with the Chinese government.
U.S. treatment of ByteDance and Huawei Technologies, now on a U.S. trade blacklist, was indicative of U.S. efforts to separate its economy from China’s.
China had “limited ability” to provide protection to these Chinese companies by retaliating against U.S. companies because the United States had technological superiority and influence with its allies, as per details.
“China’s opening-up to the outside world and disintegrating the U.S. decoupling strategy should be priorities,” it said in an editorial.
TikTok, a video-sharing application, has denied allegations of Chinese influence. Theo Bertram, head of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says he will reject any request for data from China. According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), he said: “The suggestion that we are in any way under the … Read more
Lahore: Voices have been raised in the Assembly regarding the ban on video-sharing mobile application TikTok in Pakistan. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and member of Seemabia Tahir has submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly regarding the ban on TikTok. The text of the resolution submitted by Seemabia Tahir said, “Religions are being ridiculed in … Read more
Popular video-sharing application, TikTok, has been under scrutiny for its subpar data handling methods and ties with the Chinese government. The application was recently banned in India and is currently undergoing a few trials in the US as well.
According to a recent report, TikTok developers are in deep waters in South Korea as well. The Korean Communications Commission (KCC) has fined the company for 186 million or $155,000 for mishandling of child data.
According to the details, KCC acts as the regulator and overwatches the country’s telecommunications and data related sectors just like Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
The fine follows reports of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, failing to protect users’ private data specifically youngsters in the region.
