On the other hand, I find this a bit concerning too? The USA is starting to look a bit more like China. There is now only “one world view” for us. Given the friend group between the people who run X and Meta and it might leave us in a precarious situation?
Banning TikTok only treats the symptom , the real disease is that people are way to susceptible to propaganda and misinformation.
Did you miss the part where China is a foreign adversary? They don't play nice. If you try to play nice with someone who wants to kill you then you get killed.
But I’m not saying China are nice guys, I’m saying we’re now left with the same thing, just ran by the US government. You might think that’s a good thing. I don’t.
Personally I think all closed source social media should be outlawed and all algorithms used should be audited by a third party.
End users just won't care about the algorithm. Try talking to a niece or nephew, especially one who makes money on the platform about The Algorithm and you'll get blank stares, or, at best, a "yeah I know, but...".
If you've had better luck, let me know (actually).
As for "being China", every country has protections on what goes in or out of the country including media. A lot of countries won't let you own a newspaper or news broadcast channel, so this is the next extension of that sort of idea.
It's the same idea as not allowing a company from the USSR to run a news channel during the Cold War, although obviously the lines are fuzzier and still being discovered with apps and algorithms.
We have nukes. If they try to kill us, everyone dies. "Foreign adversary" just means they're big enough to get a seat at the table in a multipolar world.
