Former US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Wants to Acquire TikTok Amid Threat of US Ban - 1

Former US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Wants to Acquire TikTok Amid Threat of US Ban

  • Written by Shipra Sanganeria Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
  • Fact-Checked by

On the heels of the TikTok ban by the US House of Representatives , Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury Secretary, said that along with an investor group, he’s planning to make a bid to buy the short-form video-sharing platform.

In an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box , Mnuchin said that he hoped the bill would pass in the Senate, which could compel TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest its share to a US-based organization.

However, he was quick to say that the Chinese government would never approve of any kind of sale or divestiture to a US-based business. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China,” Mnuchin said.

One of the reasons could be the large amount of data collected by the app. Used by nearly 170 million Americans, Mnuchin said that in his tenure as the Treasury Secretary, he had seen mounting evidence of the app’s capability to collect vast troves of user data.

The other factor widely suspected to be the main reason behind China’s reluctance to the sale, is TikTok’s powerful algorithm. Developed in China, this algorithm is the mainstay behind the platform’s success as it divines tailored content to users.

Without this algorithm, one wonders how attractive the sale of this platform to potential buyers would be. Earlier in 2020, the sale of TikTok to Walmart and Oracle hit a snag when Chinese regulators first added algorithms (technologies) to its export control list.

Nevertheless, there is a growing interest among US investors in acquiring the social media platform. Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has also shown interest in bidding for the platform, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal .

TikTok, meanwhile, in an internal memo to employees, stated that it would continue with its current data protection strategy in the US and would use legal means to protect the platform.

FCC Raises Benchmark of High-Speed Broadband - 2

FCC Raises Benchmark of High-Speed Broadband

  • Written by Elijah Ugoh Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
  • Fact-Checked by

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially changed its definition of broadband from 25Mbps/3Mbps to 100Mbps/20Mbps.

The March 14 decision comes 9 years after its last redefinition and concludes that “advanced telecommunications capability is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion based on the total number of Americans, Americans in rural areas, and people living on Tribal lands.” This effectively raises the standard for decent internet speeds across the United States.

While the new standard seems like an audacious aim, increasing broadband speeds four-fold, it’s been a long time coming.

Even in 2015, there was criticism that the 25 Mbps standard was insufficient and put many Americans at a disadvantage. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said at the time, “I think our new threshold, frankly, should be 100Mbps. I think anything short of that shortchanges our children, our future, and our new digital economy.”

The new standard was set based on what is “now used in multiple federal and state programs (such as NTIA’s BEAD Program and multiple USF programs), consumer usage patterns, and what is actually available from and marketed by internet service providers,” says the FCC’s press release.

But whether Americans can enjoy better internet service depends on where they live. For instance, the FCC report shows that “fixed terrestrial broadband service (excluding satellite) has not been physically deployed to approximately 24 million Americans, including almost 28% of Americans in rural areas, and more than 23% of people living on Tribal lands.”

“45 million Americans lack access to 100/20 Mbps fixed service and 35/3 Mbps mobile 5G-NR service,” the report adds.

Why is raising the speed metric important?

“This fix is overdue,” Rosenworcel said. “It also helps us better identify the extent to which low-income neighborhoods and rural communities are underserved.”

Raising the metric matters because it sets the standard for what Internet Service Providers (ISPs) need to provide American consumers, no matter where they live.

As part of its announcement on Thursday, the FCC also set a 1 Gbps/500 Mbps long-term goal for broadband speeds. Hopefully, this will prevent future stagnancy when it comes to outdated standards of digital access.