[MuffinFlavored]

Kind of a tangent question but what's worst case scenario on what TikTok can do with the level of data they have?

Let's say I'm the average TikTok user and I grant it all permissions on my phone that the iOS app store approval process has allowed them to do.

How... predatory are those?

They know who I am, where I live, who my friends are, where I go, my "habits/interests". Worst case scenario my job, my wealth level.

What can China/the Chinese government/Bytedance go with this information that is so "scary"?

Say Meta + Bytedance have the same information on me. One company is American, one company is Chinese. Why is the Chinese one having that level of information bad?

Can China force Bytedance to do something with the app's algorithm to influence millions of people to think a certain way? Are people just puppets that don't think for themselves? It's ok if Meta influences us but not Bytedance? Why are we assuming we're easily influenced and need to be protected from... ourselves?