Microsoft CEO Wants Increased Focus on Internet Safety in Social Media
October 06 2020 - 1:32PM
Dow Jones News
By Aaron Tilley
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Satya Nadella said that internet
safety should be a greater focus for social-media companies and
that the software company would have applied some of its experience
in that area to video-sharing app TikTok.
"What needs to happen is real reform in social media where
internet safety is a top consideration," Mr. Nadella said Tuesday
at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council.
Microsoft during the summer made an unsuccessful bid to buy
parts of TikTok and address what the U.S. said were
national-security concerns about the app's ties to China. The
Redmond, Wash.-based company withdrew from the running after the
Chinese government imposed export restrictions on the kind of
software TikTok uses, leaving Microsoft's cloud-computing rival
Oracle Corp. in pole position to partner with the app.
Mr. Nadella said TikTok approached Microsoft because it required
help dealing with the U.S. government's concerns.
Consumer-advocacy groups this year filed a complaint against
TikTok with U.S. regulators, accusing the social-media powerhouse
of flouting a children's privacy law and breaking a previous
settlement agreement over allegations that it illegally collected
personal data from users under 13. TikTok agreed to a $5.7 million
settlement with federal regulators over claims that it illegally
collected personal information from children.
Microsoft, Mr. Nadella said, has experience in dealing with
these kind of content issues through its Xbox gaming platform of
mostly young users and would have drawn on its experience there to
work with TikTok. Although Microsoft is best known for
business-focused software, Mr. Nadella said TikTok would have been
a good fit because it also sells consumer devices, has a
videogaming business and runs professional networking social-media
site LinkedIn.
Mr. Nadella said that social-media players should do a better
job at self-regulation and expect closer regulatory scrutiny now
that governments are starting to catch up with what companies have
developed.
"Regulation will never come fast enough to overcome some
challenges," he said, adding that "any product at scale with
unintended consequences will face regulatory scrutiny."
The TikTok negotiations thrust Microsoft into tensions between
the U.S. and China. Microsoft is one of the few successful large
tech companies doing business in China.
A lot of co-dependence in tech remains between the two sides,
Mr. Nadella said, but added that a decoupling could lead to
divergent paths in both supply arrangements and innovation.
With the tensions, companies are likely to ensure they aren't
caught up by reliance on single suppliers. "The world will be much
more diverse in its supply," Mr. Nadella said, adding that once
those efforts start, they will only gain pace.
Write to Aaron Tilley at aaron.tilley@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 06, 2020 13:17 ET (17:17 GMT)
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