Too many elections are being influenced by the free exchange of ideas on TikTok -- best to shut it down if the U.S. corrupt government cannot control it. Who cares what the people think!?
The CCP's "influence" here is just letting content exist that would normally be suppressed on other platforms. Which, obviously, the US government doesn't like - do not intersperse the pro-US military content with anticapitalist rhetoric!!!
1 - neoliberals, neoconservatives, fundamentalist zionists, other "factions" composing the majority of those who largely want the warfare/welfare state
And on the other side, we have a company owned in part by entities that are beholden to every whim of the Chinese government. That's by design, and they can't change that, and have no motivation to change that.
Either way, China will get the data through whatever data broker the predominant US social media company is. And if it pushes hard in one direction, then people will sour and leave the platform, look at Twitter.
It’s very evident that this is a power play by the media empire to squash competition, now that Musk is in cabinet and Zuck is more than happy to grease Trumps hand.