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.