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TikTok really can't cut ties with regulators. Yesterday, as expected, the European Commission opened an investigation into the company's content failures. And now, it seems that problems continue to arise in Indonesia as well.
This time, the issue is TikTok Shop, the service's foray into online retail that allows third parties to sell products on the platform. Indonesia has long been key to TikTok's e-commerce efforts. This is the company's second-largest market outside the US and was the site of an early pilot of TikTok Shop. Last October, the city of Jakarta announced that social media companies had banned their companies due to clearly predatory pricing (as my colleague Jason Del Rey wrote about it hilariously on Friday) and negative impact on local stores. It suddenly banned direct transactions within the platform, surprising TikTok and its peers.
A few months later, TikTok announced that it had found a solution. It acquired three-quarters of Indonesia's leading e-commerce platform, Tokopedia, for $1.5 billion. The deal was completed at the end of January, more than a month earlier than planned. Now that Tokopedia can process his TikTok Shop transactions, the problem is solved, right?
no. The new arrangement still allows users to purchase products within TikTok in Indonesia, but the government said in December that it would closely monitor the deal between TikTok and Tokopedia, but it is not satisfied. Trade Minister Teten Masdouki said TikTok Shops are “in fact… still integrated with social media”, which means TikTok is still breaking the law. Inaction “will undermine the authority of the government,” he added, according to Reuters.
It is now up to Indonesia's Ministry of Trade to decide what to do. But if the partnership with Tokopedia doesn't solve the problem, $1.5 billion is a lot for him to spend on a failed operation.
Regarding TikTok's problems in Europe, the new Digital Services Act enforcement authorities have made TikTok the subject of a second formal investigation under the Online Content Act. The first time involves X. The European Commission's concerns about TikTok's addictiveness and opaqueness primarily relate to child safety, but also to radicalization. TikTok's statement read: “We continue to work with experts and industry to keep young people safe on TikTok, and we look forward to the opportunity to explain this work in detail to the committee.” It is said that I wish you the best.
Please see the news below for details. And get a little taste of the irony of Saudi Arabia telling top Chinese technology companies like Alibaba and Sensetime that they need to invest in the Saudi tech sector to win market expansion deals in Saudi Arabia. “They want your company and your engineers to train their own talent,” a Chinese consultant complained to the paper. financial times. That definitely rings a gong.
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newsworthy
Wise security disaster. Surveillance camera company Wise has admitted that 13,000 customers were able to see through other customers' cameras in a recent incident. CEO David Crosby (not to be confused with the musician who died a year ago) said last week that Wise knew only 14 people like him at the time, The Verge reported. Stated. This incident occurred while Wyze was bringing cameras back online after his AWS outage. Other people's video feeds appeared in customers' “Events” tab, and more than 1,500 people tapped to zoom in.
Microsoft is investing in Spain. Days after announcing a $3.5 billion investment in Germany, Microsoft also announced a huge $2.1 billion investment in Spain, according to Reuters. Again, the objective is to build the company's AI and cloud infrastructure.
Walmart acquires Vizio. Walmart is spending $2.3 billion to acquire TV maker Vizio. The rationale, according to CNBC, is that Vizio's SmartCast operating system can power the advertising side of the high-margin Walmart Connect media business.
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“The patient appears to have made a full recovery and has no adverse effects that we are aware of. The patient can move the mouse on the screen just by thinking.”
—Elon Musk We provide an update on the first implantation of Neuralink into the brain of a human patient. However, the details are scant and far from available for peer review by other researchers. Scientists have been using brain implants to enable cursor control for several years.
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before departure
Chip factory delays. More news about the US onshoring chip production push that I wrote about yesterday.of new york times has an interesting article about how many chipmakers are delaying plans to begin mass production of silicon in U.S. factories, with TSMC and others citing concerns ranging from construction complexities to uncertainty over financial incentives. He blames everything for the delay. Emily Kilcrease of the Center for a New American Security, a D.C. think tank, said: “Nothing has failed yet, but there is some progress being made that could see these factories actually operating within the next few years. It will start.” [Biden administration’s] This program could be considered a success. ”
