I think part of the argument here is the very asymmetric nature of Chinese social media that makes their intentions rather obvious. They banned almost every foreign website/app or heavily restricted them like almost no other country did. They aren’t even allowing their own apps when they’re not primarily made for domestic use. It’s a tool to control people and that’s how the Chinese government uses it. It’s not just another corporation trying to turn a profit by wasting our time with nonsense and only destroying democracy as a byproduct like Facebook. Destroying Democracy is the point of TikTok as we’re seeing all around the world where it aggressively pushes anti-democratic content.