There is no honour in (economic) war. You don't win by holding the moral high ground.

Sucks for us Westerners to see our Internet firewalled, but that's what happens when you're in a war, whatever its nature. Everybody pays for it.

This is not an effective war strategy though. The same influence American politicians swear the Chinese government has over Tiktok can easily be obtained through any number of social media companies.

Moral high ground and fairness is the best strategy here. If it's illegal for all companies to capture this information, it makes enforcement easier and prevents foreign adversaries from merely infiltrating other companies.

There are plenty of influential people in the tech world that would sell America out for a quick Renminbi.

> This is not an effective war strategy though

I disagree. The most effective war strategy is playing dirtier than your opponent. Like, I don't know, throwing the two only atomic bombs ever unleashed on city centres.

I'm not saying that I approve it. I'm just saying that war is not an honourable endeavour. The one that goes further than the other ever dared tends to be the winner.

> There are plenty of influential people in the tech world that would sell America out for a quick Renminbi.

Indeed. The only way to stop that is through draconian laws, so you can jail these people for "high treason", like I imagine China already does.

China also has strict economic requirements for foreign companies too. Foreign companies of specific “strategic industries” are prohibited from operating independently in China and must open up as a joint venture with Chinese domestic companies and have party members on their board.

We shouldn't adopt 'general censorship' positions, but if China censors US media, then the US should center Chinese media.

I believe in reciprocity. If someone treating you poorly, there's no reason you need to keep allowing them to walk over you.

In what sense is TikTok "Chinese media" when the majority of the creators (consumed in the US) are in the West?

Bytedance is a Chinese company that is required by law to take direction from the CCP. The CCP may find it useful to promote/suppress particular content regardless of the geographic location of the creator.