Just seems weird that this "foreign adversary" is also a critical "trading partner". Why is TikTok being singled out?

The discussion about data and privacy seems totally disingenuous. This seems like a free speech issue being hidden being a weird angle.

A quick legal hack to get TikTok off the table does little to address the underlying systemic issues here - broad, uncontrolled data collection, and mass media distribution platforms that can be weaponised by nation states.

We already know US companies are impacted by both these issues. They need to be addressed at a lower level and not by cherry picking up the individual examples on grounds that are inconsistent with the rest of the state's behaviour.

> Just seems weird that this "foreign adversary" is also a critical "trading partner". Why is TikTok being singled out?

Because it's easy and cheap. It's a way for our representatives to claim they're doing something about the threat that may be posed by the Chinese government, without actually jeopardizing the interests of our industries.

Yup. And I'm sure it's a completely unintended side effect that this massively helps US social media companies, who have been struggling to compete! Whoops!

You're talking like this TikTok bill is literally the only salvo in this trade war. Just ask the Huawai folks if they think that's the case.

> A quick legal hack to get TikTok off the table does little to address the underlying systemic issues here - broad, uncontrolled data collection, and mass media distribution platforms that can be weaponised by nation states.

I have no love for FANNG, but there's a huge difference between a domestic companies invading privacy and possibly being soft targets for foreign adversaries, and a literal foreign adversary surveilling and shaping discourse.

So sure, if there is another bill that would curtail privacy invasion by domestic companies, I would be in huge support. But I fail to see how that stops blocking another privacy-invading app, run by a foreign adversary no less, is a bad thing.

There is this whataboutism in every comment on HN regarding the US and China that drives me nutty. A US company being bad does not cancel out a Chinese company being bad. A patchwork law is better than no law.