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I also want neither but if one must, I'd choose the US government to monitor my communication, a thousand-fold over Chinese surveillence :)

The US government has the ability to make my life absolutely miserable. The Chinese government doesn’t without invading the US. So I’d much prefer Chinese surveillance since it’s inconsequential to me.

It hardly seems like this is what is happening, though.

It's an app for crying out loud. No one is "controlling communication of Americans" through an app.

Maybe not, but manipulating emotions is proven to have happened, and that seems pretty dangerous. Then it's the next mental hop to having the gov push their agenda that way.

So prior restraint on speech? Not going to fly.

Propaganda is wildly effective, the medium is largely irrelevant.