HN Explorer

9 comments

[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 30.6 ms ] thread
throwaway5752
This should be a notice to all tech founders, who can shortly expect a massive degradation in global FCPA adherence and may expect foreign reciprocity in key markets.
ETHisso2017
At this point, why shouldn't Russia threaten FB with a ban unless it sells its local operations to VKontakte?
uberman
So essentially:

"If you want to buy this thing then you must pay a kickback to the government for brokering the deal and if you don't we will use government power to ban it."

jonny_eh
This is what happens when a wannabe gangster is president.
fsociety
It’s an election move IMO. Trump can say he either: 1) Banned a spying app from the US to protect American citizens 2) Claim responsibility for acquiring this great app and keeping American citizens safe

Trump is a boring person tbh..

myrryr
Or more likely, Microsoft won't acquire it because sod that, AND they will fail to ban it.
quantum_state
This is outright extortion ... Shame on Trump and his administration,
zalkota
Why shouldn’t there be a tariff? These seems fair.
patrickhogan1
Sounds similar to when a US company buys a foreign company and the foreign government requires a minimum number of jobs kept in the foreign country to allow the deal forward. For example Germany. But calling it key money. Wow.