Opinion: Blocking TikTok opens a can of worms for Facebook, Google

By citing data privacy and foreign influence to justify its restrictions on TikTok, the US has thrown a spotlight on issues that Silicon Valley’s social media companies have done well to keep in the shadows as they’ve grown to world-spanning power. — Bloomberg

Be careful what you wish for.

You might think that the Trump administration banning Chinese ownership of video-sharing app TikTok in the US on national security grounds would be a win for social-media competitors such as Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc and Twitter Inc. Selling Bytedance Inc’s operations in several major English-speaking markets to Microsoft Corp raises the hope that TikTok might suffer the sort of benign neglect that’s neutered other Microsoft-owned media assets, such as LinkedIn and Skype. Facebook lost no time in launching a copycat video-sharing service to compete.