You can also see it as retribution.
“Get bought by a Chinese entity or get banned” is the default posture of the Chinese government. BMW China is Chinese. Samsung China is Chinese. Panasonic China is Chinese. GM China is Chinese. If TikTok US is forced to be American, it wouldn’t be the most unfair thing this week.
You can’t have your “we’re better than them cos freedumb” cake and eat it too.
Well, let’s set the bar at not having concentration camps or not going to jail or being made “dissappear” for criticizing the government. For now…
I’m not sure that’s a bar you even clear, given the ice “detention centres” you set up domestically and places like abu ghraib or Gitmo you run on foreign soil. And as for criticising the government, what’s the practical use if a felon and a billionaire can rig your election without any repercussions anyway?
“I can call trump a criminal online, that’s freedom right there!”
“Will he actually be arrested?”
“Well no, but it feels good to say it”
