Happy Valentineâs Day. Iâm sending this from the NBA All-Star Technology Summit in San Francisco, where Iâve never seen so many major streaming competitors onstage at once.
This week, I go inside TikTok, Google, and Meta. Keep reading for what Elon Musk really wants with his bid for OpenAIâ¦
TikTok turns up the heat â and scores a win
On Wednesday night, ByteDance employees tuned in to their company all-hands meeting with senior leaders from across the company, including TikTok chief Shou Chew. The elephant in the room was, of course, the fate of the app in the United States.
During the meeting, Chew said, âWe remain confident that we can make a lot of progress to stabilize the situation hopefully soon,â according to a transcript of his remarks Iâve seen. The next day, Apple and Google suddenly returned TikTok to their US app stores after receiving private, written assurance from newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi that they wouldnât be fined for breaking the law. (Bondiâs letter has yet to be made public, and all parties involved are refusing to comment on it.)
During the all-hands meeting, Chew alluded to the years of political miscalculations th …