What year is it? 2025 apparently. But once again, Microsoft is reportedly in the picture to acquire TikTok.
In case you were unaware, last year, the United States Congress passed a bill that requires China-based TikTok to divest its business, or completely shut down. Previous U.S. President Joe Biden didn’t veto the bill, making it law. TikTok refused to divest, leading to the social network going dark last Sunday. However, it was back within hours, with a pop-up message thanking incoming President Trump for extending the firm a fig leaf.
President Trump gave TikTok a 90-day stay of execution, although Google Play and Apple’s app store have not reinstated the app, due to the law. It seems that TikTok will still have to either shut down in the United States, or find a buyer, some time in the next few months.
To that end, NPR reports (via The Verge) that, once again, Microsoft is in the running to buy TikTok.
The short-form video app has been criticized the world over for its addictive algorithm, which is notorious for its proficiency at creating echo chambers and breeding radicalization of all types. The United States identified it as a threat to national security owing to parent company Bytedance’s involvement with the Chinese Communist Party. The U.S. argues that TikTok could be leveraged to spread propaganda, or be used to track American citizens. The European Union is also investigating TikTok’s role in the rise of extremist parties across the bloc, and its role in spreading pro-Putin Russian propaganda.
The reports suggest that the White House is investigating a solution that would see Oracle acquire TikTok’s global operations, allowing Bytedance to maintain a minority stake. Microsoft is also reportedly involved in the talks, although there’s no information on exactly how involved Microsoft is. All companies involved so far have thus far declined to comment.
Meta has Facebook and Instagram, Google has YouTube, Amazon has Twitch, and Microsoft has … LinkedIn.
While LinkedIn is a large and profitable business, it is wholly utilitarian in its purpose and doesn’t exactly deliver influence over the cultural zeitgeist in the same way other social networks do. If Microsoft had influence, or perhaps outright owned a network like TikTok, it could give its existing consumer platforms — namely Windows, Surface, and Xbox — a huge boost. Envision direct integration between Xbox and TikTok, for example, or a native video editing tool based on TikTok on top of Windows. Although being real, articles were probably written in that vein when Microsoft purchased Skype, and we all know how that went.
It’s unlikely that Microsoft will actually have any real involvement in owning TikTok, although TikTok is one of Microsoft’s biggest Azure AI companies. Lots of TikTok’s machine learning tools and features leverage Azure, although the bulk of the network itself is hosted with Oracle cloud. Microsoft’s involvement likely begins and ends around its Azure AI contract, if I had to guess.
But what if?
