As a European: this is extremely funny. America has been doing this for years. Apparently only when it's not America doing these things it becomes a problem?
America being an ally only really makes them more dangerous to me as an individual. If I were in trouble with the US government there is a high likelihood my own government would extradite me. There's very little chance of that with the Chinese government, and the chances are they wouldn't be interested in the first place*
* Not that the US would be interested in me personally either. But they do take an interest in citizens from other countries.
Well, you could certainly see why the situation changes when the service is controlled by an adversarial government. At least the US services are only clandestinely influenced by the US government. TikTok is practically a Trojan horse
Kinda. Many Americans run around with a notion of some kind of noble entrepreneur who provides the bounty of endless choice in consumer goods, even if it's a corporation. The fact that many different brands come from the same factory tends to be overlooked. Americans are also unique in their tolerance for constant advertising where other cultures would consider it gauche and intrusive.
TikTok is imo goddamn scary. It is explicitly set up to hook people with gamification techniques, showering likes on new users so they come back for more. Only the subject matter is often politics, activism and intertribal warfare.