Ex-TikTok CEO Wishes Trump Hadn’t Targeted Company
President Donald Trump’s recent actions against TikTok “certainly” gave the company “profile and visibility,” but it would have been better had that not happened, ex-CEO Kevin Mayer told the Technology Policy Institute in an interview shared Friday (see 2009280028). Profile and visibility are “usually not bad things,” he said. It's a “good enough product with a good enough team behind it and good enough technology behind it, that it would have succeeded just fine, and it was succeeding just fine without any of that.”
It’s possible to compete with major American tech companies, Mayer said, citing TikTok’s and Snap’s popularity. To compete, a company needs to differentiate with an “amazing product backed by amazing technology,” he said: It happens every five or 10 years that something is new enough and big enough to compete. Mayer would put TikTok founder Zhang Yiming up against any U.S. tech entrepreneur.
Mayer favored less regulation, saying having none isn’t an option. Guardrails are necessary to maintain social norms and election laws concerning user-generated content, he said: There’s a balance between free speech and privacy. He cautioned that tighter and increasing regulation will make it harder for new entrants.
Policymakers should think about how effective companies can be in moderating and controlling content, Mayer said. Regulations that are too “fine-tuned” aren’t easy to enforce, given the pace of technology, he said. He noted the importance of safe harbors in Communications Decency Act Section 230: “If you do your best to follow the rules, you shouldn’t put yourself in a position of being prosecuted or fined or punished.”
User-generated content on platforms like TikTok and YouTube will continue to take attention away from scripted TV and movies, Mayer said: It’s happening and will continue through algorithmic delivery. He noted a company like TikTok doesn’t need personally identifiable information to cater content to users: The only necessary ingredient is viewer habit.
Mayer said younger and older generations view privacy differently. TikTok appeals to younger users ages 18-24, he said: That demographic values vibrancy over privacy, but as people get older, they value privacy more.