[pixelatedindex]

Either you are being sarcastic or you forgot about the Cambridge Analytica incident. Elections can be influenced via the latest prevalent platform in a region. If it’s not TikTok, it’ll be Facebook / Instagram / YouTube.

[kelnos]

Sure, but consider that we actually found out about Cambridge Analytica, Facebook got egg on its face, and made changes in how they share data as a result. (We can argue over how meaningful those changes were, of course.)

And on the other side, we have a company owned in part by entities that are beholden to every whim of the Chinese government. That's by design, and they can't change that, and have no motivation to change that.

[pixelatedindex]

I’d argue FB getting egg on its face has done nothing. Bytedance has also made changes to how data is stored and shared as well, which may or may not be meaningful. It seems to me that it’s ok for US agencies to exploit and data mine the crap of US citizens, but if it’s another country doing it then we go “wait not like that”.

Either way, China will get the data through whatever data broker the predominant US social media company is. And if it pushes hard in one direction, then people will sour and leave the platform, look at Twitter.

It’s very evident that this is a power play by the media empire to squash competition, now that Musk is in cabinet and Zuck is more than happy to grease Trumps hand.

[fsflover]

So the US could require transparency from everybody, not ban whoever they dislike or fear