The original Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was fought through deploying military assets in strategic locations, manipulating trade, and even sponsoring coups.
Today’s New Cold War between the U.S. and China has opened a new front: Social media.
For months now, the quickly growing Chinese-owned TikTok social media app has been criticized in the U.S.
Security experts have found it sends highly personal information back to Chinese servers for no apparent reason.
The Department of Defense and all four branches of the military even banned it from the phones of military personnel.
Last week, things escalated even further when President Trump declared he would ban the app completely in the U.S.
From a security standpoint, that’s probably not a bad idea. But TikTok’s more than 50 million daily active users in America were less than thrilled.
Suddenly, into the middle of this tech Cold War came Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) CEO, Satya Nadella. Over the weekend, he announced his company was looking to buy TikTok’s U.S. division.
After a conversation with Nadella, President Trump said he was open to the idea and set a deadline: September 15.
Unfortunately, a deal acceptable to everyone is not going to be easy to find.
And in the meantime, the whole TikTok affair has revealed Microsoft’s biggest weakness…
