Can someone explain to me how is this any different from spy satellite? Yet nobody would think about shooting down spy satellite, yet you see in this thread people discussing shooting down a baloon, what's the difference between them? Does baloon provide better data than satellite? Isn't it just cheaper version of satellite with ability to provide same data?

edit: from CNN article:

"“Balloon payloads can now weigh less and so the balloons can be smaller, cheaper and easier to launch” than satellites, Layton said."

TLDR they are cheaper

"“An advantage of balloons is that they can be steered using onboard computers to take advantage of winds and they can go up and down to a limited degree. This means they can loiter to a limited extent.

“A satellite can’t loiter and so many are needed to criss-cross an area of interest to maintain surveillance,” he said."

TLDR they can loiter in place compared to satellite