[magicsmoke]

It definitely mirrors the kinds of restrictions China puts on US companies with joint ventures, censorship of sensitive topics, and keeping data on Chinese servers.

However, I think why this feels unsettling even if it just mirrors what China's done is because up to now there was a sense that the US has a stronger economy, society, and culture than China, and these restrictions China put on US companies reflected their weakness and insecurity. But now the US is doing what China's done for decades. It shatters that aura of American superiority, implies that China's been right all along on matters of national security, and foreshadows a future where previously sacred assumptions of American democracy become obsoleted by new technology. I'm reminded of hand weavers smashing machine looms during the dawn of the industrial revolution.

[nan0]

Great point, the US should take the high road and allow the free flow of information regardless of the host of that info (friend or foe)

To give some push back:

Currently the US is in an election year and both the left and right are concerned about foreign interference.

Being said Tik Tok is a Chinese based company and following priority Chinese law. Couldn't they propogate direct election interference under the precived guise of being a US private corporation bc of US public's consumption and get away with it?

A counter point could be made for an actual US corporation doing the same thing, but a nation state doing it would be a different issue entirely.

[khuey]

Or maybe it just implies that the Golden Rule still exists?

[magicsmoke]

The US seems to have been fine shrugging off the Golden Rule and giving China a pass for decades because it felt like it was the bigger man. Now, we're seeing the US admit that the gap has closed.

[tanilama]

Maybe the gap is indeed closed

[logicchains]

"An eye for an eye" is not the Golden Rule!

[chillacy]

But in game theory at least, tit-for-tat is a pretty successful strategy.

[khuey]

It sort of is, if you think of it as "don't poke out other people's eyes if you don't want them to poke yours out".

[megameter]

The "do not do...what you would not wish done" variant is actually called the Silver Rule, no joke.