Americans when Canadians say they'd prefer TikTok spying vs an American company:
but seriously. I want no one to have my data, but if someone HAD to have it, I would prefer TikTok over anything from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, etc..
My country wont export me to China if I post something negative or pirate something. My country will export me to the US if they come banging on my door. I am quite literally safer letting China have a bit of my data.
True but also true: you are comparing multinational corporations to the Chinese government, who is currently waging cold war against Western states. That's the quiet part they're taking care not to say loud, hence posturing.
Has everyone forgotten when Zuck was brought before congress and grilled about Facebook? True, the reps merely embarrassed themselves through their own ignorance, but being ineffectual is not the same as hypocracy.
I remember articles in the early 00s about how China wouldn't allow Google to operate there and a big deal was made about "the great firewall of China" and how it was all about censorship, but now that China has an influential internet service, US congress is demanding they hand over ownership of US operations to a US company.
Xenophobia (from Ancient Greek ξένος (xénos) 'strange, foreign, alien', and φόβος (phóbos) 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange.
American politicians don't need social media to invade peoples privacy. The patriot act sealed the deal a while ago. If they want to spy, they're going to.
I should also add that the whole tik tok ban is just a way to toss in extra laws that give the America government more control. They say it's about tik tok, but it's a scapegoat to get people to vote for invasive laws.