Tik Tok is a national security threat
Having worked in the Chinese tech sector I have honestly no idea where this cartoonish idea comes from that the Chinese government magically runs every tech company in the country. I seriously question if anyone who says that has any personal experience with the country at all. This is some strange techno-orientalism where Asian governments apparently have superpowers nobody else possesses. Does anyone here think the American government is physically able to own or run every technology company or even one?<p>The Chinese tech sector, including TikTok (which is a distinct western entity anyway, the Chinese app is called Doujin) faced comparatively little oversight, and regulators usually aren&#x27;t exactly competent. Chinese entrepreneurs navigate laws and regulations just like they do everywhere else, with the added difficulty that they tend to be even more confusing than anywhere else. There is no mastermind sitting in a dark room smoking a cigar controlling entire sectors of the economy, because only the tech companies actually know how to operate themselves, same as anywhere else.<p>The government in China considers its own tech sector to be a competing power center, not some extended arm of the party, which is why they brought the hammer down on significant parts of the industry recently, wiping out ungodly sums of money in the process. You don&#x27;t do that to an asset. Chinese tech tends to attempt to skirt the rules (usually for its own benefit) whenever possible.