I think people have completely misunderstood the threat that TikTok presents and this "solution" is therefore completely missing the mark.
I agree with the idea that China can already capture all of this user data or just purchase it outright from many U.S. based companies that would be more than happy to sell it to them.
In my opinion, the problem with TikTok is that it is designed to take advantage of everything we know about making media addictive to a large demographic and like all modern social media, it does so with an AI engine that personalizes the feed for each user so that they can maximize time spent on the platform. This addiction problem alone is a problem that needs to be dealt with across all social media companies.
With TikTok, you can also then layer on top of that the problem that an addicted and captive audience is then suggestible to propaganda from China, but is China anymore likely to deploy harmful propaganda than the many corporations that are constantly after our minds and dollars? China is not the only threat we face in this world. Their are plenty of domestic companies and powerful people that would gladly allow the minds of your children to be enslaved if it made them more rich and powerful.
What we have is a problem of addiction, social media having become one of the most addictive products with some of the most impactful consequences, and we aren't doing anything about it because corporations benefit from captive consumers and our government has never been more heavily influenced by corporate interests than it is in the modern era.
We used to actually fight addictions in the interest of public health. In the 80s and 90s we actually took money from the sale of cigarettes and started campaigns to reduce the amount of cigarettes that were consumed. We had programs like DARE to educate children on addiction and drugs, before they became teenagers. Now, we don't care about any of that. Nicotine use is increasing again. Drug use is increasing. Gambling is being legalized in more forms in more places. More people are addicted to prescription drugs than ever before. And we even have companies that have scientifically studied how to make their packaged foods as addictive as possible.
It has never been harder to raise children and keep them away from unhealthy, addicitive products than it is right now because your kid gets addicted to TikTok where the chip company pushes their
addictive new variety of chips. Then they sit around on TikTok, eating chips, getting fatter and becoming diabetic by the time they are 12. Then we put them on the Ozempic, which is now approved for children, and keep them on that for a lifetime at the cost of thousands per year.
We need to get back to combating addictive and unhealthy behaviors and products.