Microsoft faces complex technical challenges in TikTok carveout
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
June 29, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2022
Microsoft faces complex technical challenges in TikTok carveout

Global Economy

Reuters
10 August, 2020, 06:05 pm
Last modified: 10 August, 2020, 06:12 pm

Related News

  • TikToker fined for making video on Padma Bridge
  • Senators seek update on US security review of TikTok
  • Microsoft stops selling emotion-reading tech, limits face recognition
  • YPF, TikTok hold workshops on internet safety
  • YouTube Shorts touts 1.5 bn users, taking on TikTok

Microsoft faces complex technical challenges in TikTok carveout

Microsoft is negotiating a transition period that will give it time to ringfence TikTok technologically from ByteDance after they agree to a deal, Reuters reported on Aug. 2

Reuters
10 August, 2020, 06:05 pm
Last modified: 10 August, 2020, 06:12 pm
The Microsoft store is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, June 26, 2020. Photo:Reuters
The Microsoft store is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, June 26, 2020. Photo:Reuters

Microsoft Corp's bid to carve out parts of TikTok from its Chinese owner ByteDance will be a technically complex endeavor that could test the patience of President Donald Trump's administration, according to sources familiar with the setup.

Trump has given Microsoft until Sept. 15 to put together a blueprint for an acquisition that safeguards the personal data of Americans stored on the short-video app, and he has issued an order to ban it if there is no deal by then.

Microsoft is negotiating a transition period that will give it time to ringfence TikTok technologically from ByteDance after they agree to a deal, Reuters reported on Aug. 2.

The clean break that Trump and lawmakers envision could take a year or more, some of the sources said.

TikTok is functionally and technically similar to ByteDance-owned Douyin, which is available only in China, and shares technical resources with it and other ByteDance-owned properties, people familiar with the matter said.

ByteDance started working on their technological separation several months ago amid scrutiny from the US government, a source familiar with the process told Reuters. It began planning for a split as part of a strategy to shift its power from China, Reuters has reported.

While the code for the app, which determines the look and feel of TikTok, has been separated from Douyin, the server code is still partially shared across other ByteDance products, the source said. The server code provides basic functionality of the apps such as data storage, algorithms for moderating and recommending content and the management of user profiles.

To ensure uninterrupted TikTok service, Microsoft would likely need to rely on ByteDance's code while it reviews and revises the code, and moves to a new back-end infrastructure to serve users, according to cyber security expert Ryan Speers at River Loop Security, which provides services including cybersecurity due diligence for deals.

Any continuing technical or operational reliance of the US business on the Chinese company after the sale generally would have been unacceptable to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), said Aimen Mir, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury responsible for CFIUS, now a partner at the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

In the past, CFIUS has required adoption of increased protections pending a sale, including separation of the US business from foreign sellers to the furthest extent possible, he said.

Another challenge Microsoft faces is how it will transfer what is viewed as TikTok's secret sauce, the recommendation engine that keeps users glued to their screens. This engine, or algorithm, powers TikTok's "For You" page, which recommends the next video to watch based on an analysis of user behavior.

TikTok uses recommendation algorithms that are independent from Douyin, according to two sources familiar with the matter. But what makes it tick is the content and user information that is fed into the algorithm.

"Algorithms are not worth anything without the data," said Jim DuBois, a former Chief Information Officer at Microsoft. DuBois is a venture adviser at Ignition Partners. "Segmenting the data for those countries is a significant task."

Microsoft's negotiations for the acquisition of the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia operations of TikTok complicates a separation. Not only would TikTok have to be separated from ByteDance, it would have to be broken up from TikTok's other regions. This adds to the technical challenges because of the amount of data involved.

"The biggest part is separating the user data - both content and data about users," DuBois said, noting hard disks of data would likely need to be transferred between ByteDance and Microsoft.

TikTok had said its user data was stored in the US, with a backup in Singapore, separate from the rest of the company.

The proposed timeline makes consummating a deal very challenging, said Karen C. Hermann, a deal lawyer at Venable LLP: "It can sometimes take months and months just to identify the business needs of the divested business, what IP and other assets it uses exclusively, and what assets and IP it shares with other businesses in the company group." 

Tech

TikTok / Microsoft

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A view of Gulshan area in Dhaka. Photo: Wikimedia
    Dhaka again ranks most expensive city for foreign employees in South Asia: Survey
  • Apparel exports see 50% growth in  June amid high inflation in EU, USA
    Apparel exports see 50% growth in June amid high inflation in EU, USA
  • Children above 5 years to receive Covid jabs from July
    Children above 5 years to receive Covid jabs from July

MOST VIEWED

  • Models of oil barrels and a pump jack are displayed in front of a rising stock graph and "$100" in this illustration taken February 24, 2022. REUTERS
    Oil prices slide after three-day rally
  • Walmart+ will expand on the retailer's existing grocery-delivery subscription service. Photo: Collected
    US FTC sues Walmart for allegedly allowing money transfer services for fraud
  • People wait in a queue after receiving tokens to buy petrol due to fuel shortage, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
    Sri Lanka rushes to find fuel as shortages hit schools, workers
  • A worker uses a petrol pump at a Brazilian oil company Petrobras gas station in Brasilia, Brazil March 7, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo/File Photo
    Oil prices take breather after three-day rally
  • A man wearing a protective mask, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, walks past an electronic board displaying Japan's Nikkei index and various countries' stock market index prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, February 22, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
    Asian stocks lose bounce from shorter China quarantine, slip on inflation fears
  • Cryptocurrency. Photo: NDTV
    Crypto crash threatens N Korea's stolen funds as it ramps up weapons tests

Related News

  • TikToker fined for making video on Padma Bridge
  • Senators seek update on US security review of TikTok
  • Microsoft stops selling emotion-reading tech, limits face recognition
  • YPF, TikTok hold workshops on internet safety
  • YouTube Shorts touts 1.5 bn users, taking on TikTok

Features

Mahathir accused financial titans of seeking to reverse decades of economic development that propelled tens of millions into the middle class. Photo: Bloomberg

George Soros, Mahathir and the legacy of 1997

1h | Panorama
 If Bangladesh produces and exports high-value-added MMF products right now, we can increase our total export by around 25% in value. Photo: Mumit M

Time ripe for Bangladesh RMG sector to focus more on man-made fibres

5h | Panorama
Human Library Bangladesh has organised so far nine sessions; eight have been held in different parts of Dhaka and one in Khulna. Photo: Courtesy

Human Library Bangladesh: Where the halls come alive with human voices

6h | Panorama
Abortion is a part of healthcare. Photo: Bloomberg

Abortion is healthcare and women’s rights are human rights

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Archeological artefacts getting ruined locked in store room

Archeological artefacts getting ruined locked in store room

5h | Videos
Photo: TBS

WB to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next 5yrs

7h | Videos
Why teachers are being humiliated again and again?

Why teachers are being humiliated again and again?

18h | Videos
After Bangabandhu Bridge, will Padma Bridge change economy again?

After Bangabandhu Bridge, will Padma Bridge change economy again?

19h | Videos

Most Read

1
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

2
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Motorcycles banned on Padma Bridge 

3
Japan cancels financing Matarbari coal project phase 2
Bangladesh

Japan cancels financing Matarbari coal project phase 2

4
Photo: Courtesy
Corporates

Gree AC being used in all parts of Padma Bridge project

5
Photo: TBS
Infrastructure

Gains from Padma Bridge to cross $10b, hope experts

6
Desco wanted to make a bold statement with their new head office building, a physical entity that would be a corporate icon. Photo: Courtesy
Habitat

Desco head office: When commitment to community and environment inspires architecture

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
An aerial view of a MRT Line-6 construction site. Work on the first elevated metro rail of Bangladesh is going on in full swing. A total of 16 elevated stations will connect the capital’s Uttara to Motijheel via Mirpur, Farmgate and Dhaka University. The photo was taken from Farmgate area recently. Photo: Rajib Dhar

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net