But they cannot buy the same data - the quantity and quality of the data they obtain themselves (through apps like TikTok and WeChat that are running in the background 24/7 while collecting any information possible, such as secretly copying your clipboard which is likely to reveal passwords and other sensitive information) is far higher than what they could pay for.

You’re also ignoring the fact that they can use their apps to easily spread propaganda and influence elections. They’ve already censored videos that criticized the Chinese government. And inside the app then they have a very prominent “Covid-19” button where they can cherrypick what information to display.. they’ve for instance chosen to omit the fact that the Wuhan Virus originated in China.

> they’ve for instance chosen to omit the fact that the Wuhan Virus originated in China.

Any social media platforms using the term "Wuhan Virus" would be a bigger sign of governmental propaganda than the lack is.

For the record, "Wuhan Pneumonia" and "Wuhan Virus" were widely used by official news coverage in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and guess what, Mainland China, before the WHO suddenly dictated all people must use "Covid-19" or else you're racist or propagandist.

This trick is very effective in erasing the obvious link between the virus and its origin.

Yes, of course the goal is to erase the "obvious link" between the virus and the its origin. The thing is, people are irrational and will start discriminating in weird and unnecessary ways based on where a virus came from.

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/20/coronavirus...

Nobody is trying to erase "history" or anything. Anybody actually interested can always read about the origin location of the virus in Wikipedia. This is all about keeping things straightforward for the otherwise uninformed.

Note that this is a standard virus naming methodology. The Ebola virus was similarly intentionally named to avoid unintentionally creating a target for discrimination.

Would you say the names West Nile, Zika, and MERS are also signs of propaganda?

No, because those were all in common use.

It shouldn't matter whether you think Wuhan virus or COVID is the propaganda-name, a company just defaulting to the most common term for their market is not a useful sign of propaganda.

Using Tik Tok's Covid information as proof of propaganda is just looking at noise and pretending it's data.