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Beijing understands very well how TikTok can be used. It’s been banned in Hong Kong since the 2019 protests.

I don't understand your comment. Beijing controls TikTok and understands how it can be used, yet bans it in Hong Kong to prevent it from being used to fuel the independence movement. Aren't those statements contradictory?

Those who control TikTok certainly have more power than the users.

Because during the Cold war information was able to be more efficiently split up between different mutually independent spheres. Now it's more of a free for all because of global Internet access. So yes, you could call it a "cold war", but it's really a more generalized version of that concept.

I guess "The Cold War" is very specific to a historical period, and the term "grey zone conflict" is a generalization of what went on there. Also the Cold War involved lots of proxy wars, not thing "grey zone conflict" necessarily does.

Also, I'm starting to feel like the vagueness of "are we at war or not?" is an intentional feature that gives people in power leverage to gaslight the public. That applies to both cold war and grey zone conflict.