TikTok’s CEO takes shots at Zuckerberg as it aims to continue to survive in the US
The Zuckerberg fight
One person that might enjoy the demise of TikTok is Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook CEO has left no stone unturned to take potshots at the short video app and simultaneously building rival products.
[Read:Congress fumbles through antitrust hearing with big tech CEOs]
In an internal meeting, Zuckerberg discussedplans to beat TikTokwhich involved an experimental product called Lasso. However, Facebook shutdownLasso earlier this month. Now, the company has put its bets on Instagram’s Reels to capture the short video market.
Reels was first launched in Brazil as a test last November. However, the companyexpanded it to Indiaas soon as the countrybanned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok.
However, TikTok’s newly appointed global CEO, Kevin Mayer, is not pleased with Zuckerberg’s antics. Ina blog post, he said that Facebook is launching another copycat product after Lasso failed:
The Facebook CEO has also continuously prodded at TikTok’s Chinese ownership and last year, he said thatthe app is a ‘threat to democracy’. Yesterday, atthe congressional hearing,Zuckerberg avoided directly answering questions on if Facebook copies products, he had no hesitation in saying China copies US companies’ tech.
Mayer’s ‘disguised as patriotism’ comment points at this very behavior by Zuckerberg.
Challenge to prove its non-China ties
For TikTok, survival depends on how it can prove that it doesn’t give back any data to China. Despite allegations of removing content that criticizes China, the short video app has repeatedly saidthe country’s government has no access to its data. Last year, it said thatdata of American usersis stored in the US with a backup data center in Singapore.
Meanwhile, TikTok’s owner, Bytedance is mulling on how to prove that. One idea reportedlyunder discussion is to move TikTok’s HQ out of China. Heck, the company’s investors have even considered a sale. Yesterday, Reuters reported that they’re valuingthe popular app at $50 billion.
Recently, TikTok launcheda $200 million creator fundin the US to help careers of budding content makers. The company even said last night that it expects this fund to grow over $1 billion in the next three years. The firm even plans to hire more than 10,000 people in the US in a similar time-frame.
It’ll be interesting to know if Trump is thinking about the election as he’s pondering to make the TikTok move. Last time he came face to face with TikTokers when a lot of teens on the platform booked tickets tohis rally and didn’t show up.
On the other hand,Kevin Rose of the New York Timesmakes a compelling argument about not banning TikTok, but forcing it to make its operations transparent. He argues that steps like national security review, regular data audits, and opening up its internal moderation guidelines can make it a safer platform.
Now, it’s up to TikTok to convince the US government to let its viral meme machine run.
Story byIvan Mehta
Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.“Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.”
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