[scarmig]

The idea that China is hoping for some Islamist radical campaign against the USA is misplaced. China fundamentally wants order within its borders (defined as China defines them), and terrorism against any major state actor doesn't align with its goals. Its vision of a new world order is a collection of states dividing the world into spheres of influence, without individualistic activism, violent or otherwise, disrupting state power within those spheres. More likely than not, the US didn't even need to request anything of TikTok to get this censorship: it arose organically.

[Terr_]

> China fundamentally wants order within its borders

Aside, I have a pet theory involving how the game Battlefield 4 (2013) was banned in China. The plot does not depict China as some inherently Anti-Freedom Giant Evil Empire, but I think that--in the eyes of Chinese censors--it did something even worse: It suggested that there were cracks in the empire, that it was even possible for a rogue Chinese admiral to (in the then-future year 2020) stage a credible coup against the Chinese establishment.

[scarmig]

I didn't follow that at all, but it seems plausible to me. "China is an evil empire hellbent on world domination" can reasonably be written off as shallow propaganda by a foreign adversary; "China is a fragile coalition of different groups that could easily shatter under stress" is far more dangerous to the CCP's ideology of a unified state, people, and most importantly party to lead them. The former seems like nonsense to anyone who has lived in China, while the latter resonates. The latter also has the shadow of history cast over it: the greatest threats to China have usually been internal division and discord, not external threats.