Conversely, if you're an American in America who doesn't travel abroad what is the threat TikTok poses when compared to the FAANGs? Given the cozy relationship between the US and FAANGs I think it's possible to argue that unfettered government access to FAANG data is more of a threat (to the average US citizen) when compared to the Chinese government having access to your user data via TikTok. But I'm not set on any of this and would like to understand more.

They’re all nefarious. Your data should not be in the hands of any data broker or Government without explicit consent.

But if you wanna beat the drum of Jingoism, here is a counter argument: the Chinese Government has little interest in the activities of most domestic US citizens. Its the US Federal Government that cares if American citizens are feeling too rebellious.

I am not Op neither an American.

Practically, I'll be more concerned about my government having the data vs a third world. I rarely get involved in Chinese politics/threads and have little interaction with them except everything is manufactured there. I may visit China/Taiwan/Hong Kong as a tourist sometime in future.

For my own country I am actively interested in and sometime involved in political discussions/forums. I have stronger opinion in favour/against current government and will have lot more influence on my local.

So the govt./org. trying to suppress/persecute me will be with high probability my own vs China or Russia.

not an american, but don't forget that america strives on democracy, which means approx the same laws for everyone.

killing tiktok because it's too successful will undermine US credibility as a fair entity in any kind of business negociation, with any country.

I wouldn't be surprised if this case would be used later by the EU in regulating FAANGs even more and inventing taxes just for them ( which, as a european i find completely outrageous, for the same reasons).

Not an American, but if I was:

FAANG has a data sharing mandate with the US government. My own government spying on me is more dangerous than some foreign government spying on me, because it is unlikely I wake up looking into the barrel of a Chinese exfiltration team at three in the night. Getting woken at gunpoint by the local village idiot/Sheriff because they don't like my surfing pattern is a lot more likely.

You don't have to be American to see American big-tech companies as the lesser of two evils here.

Because the biggest threat to you is your own government, not one half a world away.

The Chinese government isn't going to use nefariously collected data about you in order to get a search warrant or something. The American one is.

I am in fact American. Just being real-- everyone has our data already.

However instead of regulating everyone, banning one player and leaving the opportunity for others (including new players) to continue "bad thing" is not a good solution, is it?

Indeed. It’s surprising this isn’t coming from the CIA or the NSA. But then maybe it is.

really? where were you during covid?