[krapp]

Again, I see little difference between the PRC and USA in this regard. As an American, I couldn't care less about Chinese surveillance. But my own government has an active interest in monitoring my politics for thoughtcrime and influencing my thoughts and actions. Making a moral panic only about the foreign platform seems, itself, like propaganda.

[aegypti]

The moral panic isn’t remotely limited to foreign platforms, not even 24 hours ago the Senate Judiciary Committee publicly hung online sexual abuse of children around the CEO of Facebook’s neck, complete with a broadcasted apology before asking the TikTok CEO if they’re a member of the CCP in the same hearing.

Countries other than the USA have agency and interests, and are entirely capable of seeking to influence your thoughts and actions to affect change if it furthers their goals (it is literally an election year).

[octacat]

Tiktok has a superpower of injecting random people into your feed, which could be and would be used for manipulation. Or suppressing specific posts. Probably that is why meta did the same (before they could only do it with ads, but nobody watches ads anyway).

[Caligatio]

Having a foreign government covertly influence your thoughts and actions should be of concern. It's one thing to have your thoughts and actions be changed by a logical process; it's a whole other concern when an agonistic foreign power is expending non-trivial amounts of resources to bend your opinion.

This isn't mutually exclusive to being concerned about the US government actions in this space but the risks are completely different.

[whythre]

Seems like you are overly concerned with the devil you know while ignoring the threat of the devil you don’t. If you think the US government isn’t your friend, well… you are right. But if you are an American, the PRC is your enemy. They actually want bad things to happen to the citizens of the US. And they have the leverage to cause some of those things to happen.

[bllguo]

oh please, spare us. Do tell what china has done to the US citizenry. Consider that you're attempting revolutions, surrounding them with military bases, arming separatists, and instigating trade wars. Your government hates the Chinese people. Don't project your vile tendencies onto others.

[rangestransform]

No matter the morality of the government’s actions, I would rather be on the side of the biggest guns and do what I can to undermine the size of the other guy’s guns, unless the other guy offers me a better life

[bllguo]

then admit that instead of fearmongering and promoting actively harmful sinophobic views. it's the blind and naive i am taking issue with, not the geopolitical realists. even if i disagree with both

[whythre]

Sinophobic? You just sound like a tankie or a shill. The Chinese government is a cartel that actively trade in the stolen organs of their own citizenry. The US may have completely squandered its global hegemony entering into useless wars, but the Chinese preside over a horror show.

[BeFlatXIII]

Thank you. I cannot understand people who are more frightened by foreigners knowing about their penchant for horse porn than by their local cops knowing the same embarrassing facts.