If you're just waking up, there are *a bunch* of interesting things about ByteDance tapping up Disney's streaming chief to become TikTok's CEO... (1/13)

There's the obvious thing which is that it's a signal that TikTok and ByteDance realise the current situation where they're called a puppet of the Chinese regime isn't tenable if they want to continue to grow, and they're trying to westernise the app (2/13)

That has its benefits and its drawbacks. It may assuage fears but @HawleyMO, who has been trying to drag ByteDance execs in front of US politicians for nine months or more, is happy about having a US citizen as a TikTok exec (3/13) https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1262498756555046913

It also theoretically draws a line between ByteDance and TikTok which they've been trying to do by searching for a TikTok HQ outside of China, but the "this is a Chinese scam" folks would do well to realise Kevin Mayer is also becoming COO of ByteDance (the Chinese parent) (4/13)

Mayer's direct report is to ByteDance founder and CEO Yiming Zhang, and Mayer isn't just focusing on TikTok - he's focusing on ByteDance, which is way bigger than TikTok. What that means is the China-west geopolitical battle over tech is just starting (5/13)

More ByteDance apps are coming to the west, undoubtedly. Mayer is specifically mentioned as being in charge of Helo, which is ByteDance's kind-of Facebook, outside China in the ByteDance press release . So more headaches for Hawley (6/13) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bytedance-names-kevin-mayer-chief-operating-officer-301061108.html

More interestingly on TikTok, Alex Zhu, who was the co-founder of http://Musical.ly , which TikTok bought in 2017 to gain a foothold in the west and to piggyback on for TikTok, is stepping back from being president of TikTok to ByteDance VP of product and strategy (7/13)

What'll be interesting is whether this affects the divergence (or not, as has been the case in the past) of TikTok and Douyin - the Chinese equivalent of the app. They're very similar in many ways, barring a few exceptions (livestreaming front and centre in Douyin, eg) (8/13)

My guess on that is: probably not. For all TikTok is heralded as the amazing success, Douyin is even wilder, and has a load of features that reflect the way tech is going more generally so they'll likely just run TikTok on a couple years' delay to Douyin as already happens (9/13)

Also fascinating: there were loads of rumours about where TikTok were going to put their base outside of China, and the odds were on London. But this announcement indicates that it may well be in the US: all TikTok national and regional heads will report into Mayer (10/13)

Anyway, TikTok is so interesting because it's a crucible for a big shift in tech power - which is why both sides are fighting so hard over the whole thing. What happens to TikTok and ByteDance could literally shape the next 20 years or more of tech development (11/13)

Western politicians' belief is that they hate Silicon Valley tech execs because they're shitheads who steal our data, but at least they're shitheads we can bring in front of hearings. They're uneasy with not being able to bring Chinese tech execs to heel. (12/13)

With Mayer, now they can do that (kinda). Lots of awkward questions and debates to come about where exactly data goes and who reports to who and how much info they're sharing between the west and Beijing! (13/13)

(PS. I am *very* keen to write about this in a way that isn't a Twitter thread so if you're an editor who would be interested in that, DM me!)

Two other things: as @derekeb points out, TikTok's new CEO is well-placed to help the company fend off allegations that it's targeting kids https://twitter.com/derekeb/status/1262634415038971905?s=19

And lots of people rightly picking up the line in the NYT reporting around this that ByteDance deny they're a Chinese company, and are based in the Cayman Islands. If they really were based there properly, they'd basically double the population of the Caymans overnight

Another question to answer raised by @Sam_L_Shead: this is a big money acquisition (as all TikTok staff are). Kevin Mayer was earning a base salary of $1.25m at Disney, plus the opportunity for 200% bonus, plus stock options worth 250% his salary https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1001039/000100103915000176/employmentagreementkevinam.htm

Anyway: if you made it to the end of this and you're an editor, hit me up - I'd love to write about it for you. If you made it to the end of this and you work at ByteDance/TikTok and want to tell me more, my DMs are open, ask me for Signal/Telegraph. I'll keep you private