TikTok Reaches Agreement with Oracle

Back in July, President Trump announced his intentions to ban the popular app, TikTok, in the United States, giving the company an ultimatum to sell by September 15th. It had long been rumored that tech giant, Microsoft, would buy the app, but TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance decided to go with another offer. On Sunday, with just two days to go before President Trump’s deadline, ByteDance reached an agreement (in principle) with Oracle to take over the app’s U.S. operations. What this means for the app’s future still remains to be seen, but to me, this seems like this could be a step in the right direction.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tiktok-reaches-deal-oracle-n1238454?cid=eml_mrd_20200914&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20Rundown%20Sep%2014%2C%202020

5 thoughts on “TikTok Reaches Agreement with Oracle

  1. When I reading this post, I feel excited and relieved since TikTok is finally settled down in the U.S. This is the result I was expecting that TikTok would not be banned from the U.S. market. Even though it reaches agreement with Oracle, there are still many questions in my mind. Will any features of TikTok be removed, or will TikTok add some new features after Oracle’s takeover due to different management decisions? Will TikTok remains competent in the U.S after Oracle’s takeover? Most importantly, as I thought before, will the takeover really eliminate the privacy concern? Before reaching the agreement, I did not think TikTok violates any privacy regulations and there were no obvious evidences regarding Trump’s declaration. To protect our privacy, not only the app needs to put in effort, but also it is our responsibility to watch out our online activities.

  2. When I read this article I was actually excited. In the beginning of the COIVD-19 pandemic I started using the TikTok app and immediately got addicted. It was so entertaining that is kept me busy for a few hours of my boring quarantine days. When I first heard about TikTok being banned I was disappointed because it was another social media app that kept my attention and I didn’t want it to go away. This is a step in the right direction for the app and I am very pleased to hear about Oracle reaching an agreement with TikTok. I can’t wait to continue to use the app!

  3. This is a really exciting news to hear for any users of the app as the big fear with sale to other companies was the potential of the app changing in the US. It appears that although Oracle is the primary buyer, Wal-Mart will also be a part of the deal. Wal-Mart and Oracle’s partnership with TikTok in order to take over the American part of the company seems like a great thing for America and its consumers. The big fear over security with the TikTok app and ByteDance company seemed to be more about American security than individual security. Oracle stepping in will likely prevent those in China from getting important information that could be American security threats. However, it is likely that the majority of the same data will be taken from individual users it’ll just be going to Oracle for advertisements and such instead of to a different nation. Wal-Mart and Oracle will have about a 20% share in the company, however everything in the US will be on databases and clouds owned and operated by these American companies.
    https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/19/tech/donald-trump-tiktok-deal-approval/index.html

  4. I don’t really understand the difference of selling TikTok to another company. This whole thing began because of privacy concerns that TikTok was violating. But, won’t Oracle have the same data that TikTok has? Why is the solution to sell the company when the problem is concerning privacy? This connects to many class discussions we’ve had on apps that violate privacy on its users. I’ve always believed that there is yet to be one real solution when it comes to protecting our privacy. We should begin to think of how to really solve this problem. One way might be by reading the terms and agreement in order to familiarize ourselves with what we are signing. Also, companies can have rules enforced to prevent the usage of data for some things that we might consider to be a violation of privacy. We need to begin to think of solutions to the actual problem if we are to protect our privacy,

  5. I also agree that this is a step in the right direction for the app and customers. Millions of people in the United States use TikTok and enjoy the content and everything the app has to offer. I believe that if TikTok did get banned from the United States, there would be another app, similar to it, made because it is a popular form of media. I wonder how the app will be, being owned by a different company. Will it look the same? Will they create new features and advance the app in a different way? I’m excited to see what TikTok has in store for the future, since I am a user of this app.

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