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> I hope the US takes the EU approach and regulates what data is collected and transmitted where instead of walking the totalitarian route

Even if they do, how do you enforce it? The way I see it all paths of enforcement lead to a ban. I would bet a lot of money that tiktok is already in violation of several of the patchwork of laws that protect US online privacy.

And it's not just tiktok it's the thousands of shity games/apps owned partially by tencent.

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The core issue is their use of data, if you enact laws to curb that behavior then that covers not only tiktok but the "thousands of shity games/apps owned partially by tencent". If they continue to break the rules then you ban them and any other that is not complying; including domestically owned companies like facebook that harvest your data and use it to influence elections undemocratically.

I don't see why this couldn't be regulated in the same way that HIPPA protects our health information.

Onerous regulation and business-killing fines have the added bonus of making the collection of personal data extremely unappealing. This is a case where the threat of regulation and enforcement has a strongly positive chilling effect on an industry.

And, if you're in an industry that must collect personal information for whatever reason, it's still possible and legal.

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