The most amazing part of this acquisition was discovering there's a gay dating app called "blue" that I bet most americans, even those in the space, have never heard of with 10 times the traffic of grindr.<p>And grindr isn't obscure or known only among gays, I've heard it joked about on late night television and light-hearted NPR shows. It's part of the zietgiest whether you're in the target demo or not.<p>I guess the domain space is inherently regional since it's about meeting locals but I'm still continually amazed at how unknown some of the largest players are outside their market.<p>It's like the regional scooter/rideshare/delivery competitors. I listen to UK podcasts and they act like everyone on the planet has heard of and constantly uses a company named "Deliveroo", which I, even in the startup world had only maybe tangentially heard of, but not in any significant way. It serves in 14 countries and has 13,000 employees and 20,000 deliverers.
I know a number of Tencent engineers through college and past tech job. There's this game among employees on certain teams - find compromising pics your ex has sent through WeChat messaging, and put them side by side with the screenshot of your ex breaking up with you (as in "who's laughing now").<p>I don't think this is a political / trade issue, but rather a difference in cultural norms. It strikes me when people outside of China willingly send their most private info (including nudes & PII) to WeChat, Grindr, Tiktok, or any other Chinese apps.
The Chinese hacked the entire OPM database and siphoned of the data of all government employees. Hacked Marriot. It’s anyone’s guess how will they mine and use this information.
So some high profile US govt officials were at risk of exposure. Yet they’re happy to collect and use data of and against everyone in the world including their own so called citizens. (Subjects really.) Privacy for me, not for thee.