[colinsane]

the thing is that from the individual’s point of view there’s nothing new about this. at one point Google/YouTube held this influence over me. later, FB did. now ByteDance does (if i was a TikToker). in all these cases i’m about equally passionate in reducing the amount of power that other party has over me. doesn’t matter if it’s local or foreign.

viewing this as a National Security issue has some truth to it, but how on earth do you sell that to the public without decapitating yourself? “oh, it’s dangerous when centralized players hold influence over the masses, of which i am a part? so we’re going to ban everyone engaged in wielding this type of influence over me, right? oh, we’re not? we’re only banning the foreign one? US policy makers must not care about me at all then! US policy makers must not have my best interests in mind.”

dunno how they wiggle out of this one.