Again, I agree, "We want corps to stop hoovering up our data because they can use it to manipulate us with advertising, and they can mishandle it such that _other bad actors can exploit it_."

My point is, if finding the political will required to stop TikTok is easier than it is to regulate data collection more generally, we shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Meta is bad, Tiktok is worse.

It is folly to think that "Install Chinese government spyware on a phone" is the same level of effort as "Force the Chinese government to work on advanced persistent threats and install massive exfiltration malware on some of the most secure networks on the planet".

Or even just buy the data from data brokers. What you're highlighting is what makes TikTok different: there is a foreign adversary that is a major player in the attention economy. Observing is one thing, influencing is completely unacceptable. Especially in a post-truth society.

Is the data the issue? Or is it ongoing interference with the algorithm that pushes content to users that's the real issue? Tweaking what the users see affects those users far more than just selling their data to make money.

this isn't just about data collection. china should not be allowed to become a tech power. producing a popular social media app with advanced machine learning counts as that. china should be allowed to produce our widgets and mind its place, we can't allow a communist country and a potential global competitor to America to advance past that.